


5 Times Supervillains Unwillingly Shipped WinterIron and 1 Time They Said it Outright

by LokasennaHiddleston



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Aliens Made Them Do It, Angst, BAMF Bucky Barnes, BAMF Tony, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Fix-It, Genocide, M/M, Poor Bucky Barnes, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Protective Bucky Barnes, Reconciliation, Self-Sacrificing Tony Stark, So much angst, Temporary Character Death, Tissue Warning, Tony Feels, except not really, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2018-09-27 00:47:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 35,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9942734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LokasennaHiddleston/pseuds/LokasennaHiddleston
Summary: Tony is not known for making great decisions in life-threatening situations. But when you have one hour left to live and you're trapped in the belly of an alien ship with an attractive guy who hasn't had sex in decades... Well, what's the point of holding onto resentment?He isn't counting on actually surviving that hour... and ending up in bed with one Bucky Barnes again... and again... and again. Awkward. Fuck his life. Seriously, are all the villains somehow conspiring to bring him and Bucky together?





	1. Thanos

**Author's Note:**

> So... Surprise! I'm back. I guess you didn't expect that, did you? And yes, I know that I was supposed to be continuing my previous works but... Err... Details.  
> I'm really sorry for being MIA for so long. The thing is, CW screwed with my head far more than I said before. Writing Vibranium Hearts helped, but at one point, I grew so frustrated I entered a total slump. I ended up leaving the Marvel fandom for months. And then I had some other stuff going on in my life, so yeah... That happened.  
> But I'm back Marvel-ing, and here's hoping that I can actually finish at least some of the stuff I started. In the meantime, I'm posting some Winteriron :D Here's hoping I actually finish this one.

Whenever Tony Stark was asked how he'd spend the last hour of his life—which was weirdly far too often these days—nine times out of ten his reply was "having sex". At least half of those times, he didn't mean it, but people didn't usually want to hear him bemoaning his lost chances with Pepper or all the wrong choices he'd made with the Avengers. Being scandalous suited him far too much, even after he tried to clean up his act post-Ultron and all that mess with the Accords.

That being said, he didn't actually expect this was exactly what would happen. Usually, supervillains didn't conveniently give you an hour to wrap up your unfinished business, say your goodbyes, and fit in a quickie, just for kicks. But Tony had always been different, for his sins.

It went like this. After Cap left him alone and abandoned in Siberia (and no, siree, that wasn't him feeling bad for himself, he was totally over it), he'd pretty much figured that the Avengers were through. It didn't take a genius to figure it out. In truth, it was almost laughable. Steve had said in his letter that the Avengers mostly belonged to Tony but he'd taken three quarters of the team with him when he'd left, so yeah... Funny. Not.

Whatever the case, Tony had resigned himself to handling things with the Accords on his own, and he did exactly that. He stashed the phone and didn't look at it as he fought Ross every step of the way without trying to make it obvious. He knew exactly where Steve had gone, but whenever he saw T'Challa, he studiously didn't mention it at all.

He was making some headway and had gotten the Accords in a reasonable place. And then, there was the second alien invasion.

By now, Tony realized all too well that Wanda had played on his worst fear during Ultron, but it had still been a warranted fear—as was proven by the fact that one day, alien ships started streaming in, darkening the skies, like something straight out from Tony's nightmare.

With shaky fingers, Tony picked up the phone and dialed. No one answered—communication satelites were already screwed up. Great.

Fortunately, Cap had seen the writing on the wall too—by then, it was so glaring it could have been written in neon letters the size of a planet—and they managed to meet up anyway.

They picked up Thor somewhere along the way too, and his crazy brother was with him. Thor was the one who explained the big bad they were fighting this time around was actually the mastermind behind the original Chitauri invasion. And Tony had always suspected there was more to all that mess than had met the eye—Loki had given in far too easily after Bruce had kicked him around—but sometimes, he really hated being proven right.

Thor also brought a whole bunch of other Aesir with him—appropriately clad with their own wacky helmets and medieval-like weaponry—and the backup was much appreciated. And so, the Avengers: Extended Edition (TM pending) were back together (sort of) to fight Thanos the guy who had more romance problems than Tony. The Aesir's presence aside, the situation was predictably awkward since this was the first time Tony had even seen Steve since they'd almost killed each other in Siberia, and Barnes was there too. Steve deliberately walked in front of Barnes expected Tony to blow Barnes's arm off all over again (which, he had to point out, had not even been on purpose the first time around, but eh... details).

Tony gave him an unimpressed look and tossed him his shield. "Come on, Capsicle. Looks like we've got a job to do. And you did say we'd do this together."

It was as close to an "I-told-you-so" as he would allow himself, and Steve let it go—although Tony doubted it went over his head. By the time they'd gone their separate ways, Tony had learned Cap tended to exagerate how far out of touch he was with present day stuff whenever he wanted to ignore something—which, when it came to Tony, was often.

Tony didn't have much hope of surviving this, but he fought regardless. He fought savagely, helped people, protected his team with everything he had.

In the end, it was what brought with to getting trapped in the belly of a collapsed alien ship—together with James Barnes.

The vessel was one of the motherships that they'd been struggling to take down. In the end, Tony had teamed up with Doctor Doom, and that had worked out—Tony was gaining new respect for the supervillian, which would have worried him if he hadn't had more pressing things to be concerned about. As it was, he'd been caught in the fallout. At least two buildings had fallen on top of the vessel, blocking the way out. Tony's power was running dangerously low—he didn't have enough juice to blast out. Barnes had been somewhere beneath the ship when it had fallen, and he and Tony met up in one of the few areas of the ship that had held.

Everything was crumbling around them, so Tony was left staring at James Barnes while he also mentally computed how much time they had before they ran out of air. The tally wasn't encouraging.

"So. Here we are."

"Here we are," Barnes said, his face in shadow.

A long pause followed and then, Barnes said, "I don't think I ever got the chance... I am sorry. For everything. For... For what I did."

The apology was stilted, but Barnes took a step forward, and gave Tony a view of his eyes. There was barely any light down here, just a few flickers, but it was more than enough for Tony to see Barnes's honesty.

It was just as well that he'd made his peace with the whole thing a long time ago.

"It's not your fault. I know that. I knew it then. I just... I couldn't handle it. My mother... She..."

He trailed off, unable to finish the phrase. The only reason why his mother was even remembered these days was because of the foundation. She'd perpetually lived in Howard's shadow. She hadn't always been a great parent and she'd feared Howard too much to step between him and Tony, but she'd done her best, and Tony had loved her. She and Jarvis were the only reason why Tony hadn't turned into a super-villain after Afghanistan. (Well, that, and the fact that Pepper would have probably killed him with her heels before Rhodey even got the chance to shoot him.)

Barnes winced, and the conversation died. Barnes leaned against the wall. Tony pulled off his helmet—with the power down on the armor, it was stiffling. He could have probably kept quiet too—it was better to save air, but something kept him from doing so.

"So. We've got about an hour or so left. I think it's safe to say there's no way the others will ever get to us in time. They have their hands full. What do you want to do?"

He didn't actually expect a reply, but he got it. "Well... To be honest, I'd like to have sex."

Tony stared at Barnes in disbelief. "What."

"I never got the chance. To just... You know. Touch someone. In a nice way. After DC, I was still trying to... piece myself together and being on the run and all that... So yeah—last time I had sex was probably... God, I don't even remember."

"I thought for sure you'd have had time after the thing with the Accords," Tony said, and seriously, how was he even having this conversation now? How was this his fucking life?

Barnes shook his head. "Went back into the ice. Couldn't trust my own mind. Still can't. Maybe it's for the best, that it'd end. At least I know now that I died—"

"Stop," Tony interrupted him. "Don't finish that. It's too depressing." He considered what he was about to do, then decided what the hell. He'd done crazier things. "I can't do anything to get us out of here, but I'm down for the sex thing. If you're willing."

Barnes gaped at him, and it occurred to Tony that maybe that wasn't the wisest offer to make to a guy born in the twenties. Barnes didn't seem offended, though. Mostly, he was surprised. "Wait... You're okay with that?"

"Better than to just wait around and choke to death," Tony replied.

Barnes gave him an unimpressed look. "Well, that's flattering."

"You don't need flattery from me. You've got Cap for that."

It was a mistake to mention Steve. Barnes's expression crumpled. "I did. Damn punk... He'll get himself killed, won't he?"

Tony wished he could lie, but he knew it would be pointless. "Chances are they all will. It was a losing battle from the start."

Barnes nodded, his expression still glum. Tony sat down next to him, still awkward since he was in the armor. "Now... You up for this? Yes or no?"

Tony's dare brought a small smile to Barnes's face. "Well, when a fine looking fella makes me an offer... How could I refuse?"

In the end, there was only so much they could do under the circumstances, but Tony was nothing if not creative, and Barnes wasn't that picky. The noises he made when Tony took him in his mouth were actually quite satisfying for his ego. Tony was out of practice with blowjobs—he hadn't given one in years—but he used every trick in his arsenal, because hey, if they were going to die, at least they'd go out with a bang. Barnes buried the fingers of his metal arm in Tony's hair and Tony really had a problem, because that got him hot like nobody's business.

When Barnes finally came in Tony's mouth, Tony was actually kind of disappointed, because he didn't expect much reciprocation. He was proven wrong. There was some fumbling, but in the end, they managed to get Tony out of the armor just enough that Barnes could give him a hand job. The metal hand felt amazing on his dick—Wakandan tech, no doubt—and when Tony came, he howled the name of his parents' killer and slumped against his shoulder.

It was when Barnes was wiping down his hand of Tony's spunk that Tony had an epiphany.

"Wait. That arm has a power source, right?"

It did. Barnes proved to be amenable with allowing Tony to mess with the arm—but then, imminent death did that to a person. The power source for the arm wasn't huge, but it did help Tony give the armor a boost.

It left Barnes with a dead arm—but it gave them a way out.

Luck was by their side and Tony found a Chitauri helmet to cover Barnes's head. It was still risky as fuck and just as liable to kill them as it was to save them, but it was a chance.

Barnes wrapped his flesh arm around Tony's neck and shielded himself as best he could with the metal one. "Okay. Let's do this."

Tony sent a mental prayer to a god he didn't really believe in and burst forward. Fortunately, they weren't trapped nearly as deeply as he'd thought, and Tony exploded out of the rubble—with Barnes miraculously still hanging on to him.

Maybe there was a god out there—one who didn't dress with his mother's drapes at least.

Or maybe not. Tony's momentum carried him a few feet away from the collapsed buildings. He landed straight at Thanos's feet.

Barnes groaned as he slid off Tony. Predictably, he was a little worse for the wear after their daring escape. Thanos gave him and Tony a pleased smirk. "Well... If it isn't two Avengers. How lucky of me to..."

One thing that Tony would never understand was a villain's propensity for speeches. It looked like Thanos was no different. The armor wasn't doing very well, but Tony had to give it one more shot.

He put everything he had on the unibeam and aimed for Thanos's arm. It was ridiculously reminiscent of the incident in Siberia—and it also shouldn't have worked.

A shadow hovered behind Thanos. The beam of energy seemed to glow brighter. Thanos's hand was sheared straight off.

Thanos roared, even as Tony reached for the gauntlet that had caused so much trouble. He hesitated just moments before he could touch it. The Mind Gem was there—and the last time Tony had seen it, it had been embedded in Vision's forehead. And then the shadow was back.

It was a woman, dressed in dark flowing robes. Her face was blurred, as if it was there, but Tony couldn't quite look at it. "Take it, my merchant," she said.

Tony took it. He regretted it almost instantly, because the power that roared through him was so intense it hurt.

Suddenly, he was back in the desert, getting blown up by weapons he himself had created. He was in cave in Afghanistan, having open-heart surgery with no anaesthetic. He was paralyzed on his own couch in Malibu, dying of palladium poisoning, flying a nuclear missile into space, drowning under the rubble of his home, burning in the flames of Extremis and freezing in the chill of Siberia.

And then, Barnes was with him, gripping Tony's arm with his flesh hand. He didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. His presence—the look in his eye—it was enough. The terror and the memories vanished, returning to the back of Tony's mind. Tony embraced the power, and with a thought, wiped all the invaders of Earth from existence. Even their huge ships vanished, leaving no trace they had ever been there, beyond all the destruction, that is.

He didn't even bother saving Thanos for last—revenge was all well and good, but this wasn't about revenge. One thought—and just like that Thanos was gone, leaving not even a speck of dust.

Tony had a feeling the strange woman was pleased. He wasn't particularly happy abput that. The glove dropped from his hand—and the dark silhouette vanished the moment it hit the ground.

"You saw that too, didn't you?" Tony asked Barnes shakily. "The woman."

Barnes nodded, his lips pressed so close together they were almost white. They didn't move until much later, when the rest of the Avengers found them.

Much later, when the gauntlet was secured by Thor and the team was hustled in for debrief, Tony didn't mention the woman at all. Neither did Barnes. He seemed to realize that it was probably not a good idea to make a note of how an outside force had somehow coaxed Tony into killing thousands of aliens. Merchant of Death indeed. He knew it had been warranted, but somehow, he suspected that certain authority figures would not see it that way. 

It was a good thing that Tony was used to bullshitting his way out of bad situations, and very good at spinning believable stories out of a mix of truth and lies. The Avengers still gaped at him at him when he related his tale.

"So you're telling me you accidentally blew off Thanos's arm and relieved him from the Infinity Gauntlet," Fury said slowly, "then found a way to make all the motherships self-destruct?"

Tony nodded. "I remembered the Chitauri died when I blew up their fleet through the portal last time. It was a bit of a long shot, but hey, I had to try. And technically, it was Barnes who found the right terminal."

It was the kind of detail that mattered, because, look Fury, I have someone to corroborate my story. Hah. Never mind that this time the aliens had died differently. It totally hadn't been Tony's fault. Totally.

Fury just kept staring at him, but Rhodey laughed and clapped his shoulder, no doubt at all in his face. "You have the luck of the devil, Tony."

Tony should have probably felt at least half-way bad about it, but all he felt was tired. "I suppose I do."

Fortunately, everyone was too out of it and too relieved to question him further, which gave Tony the chance to make his escape. "So hey," he said. "Anyone up for shwarma?"

Bruce shot him a tired smile, huddling in his borrowed clothes. After all the smashing the Hulk had done, his recently returned science bro was more exhausted than all of them put together. "Sure thing, Tony," he replied anyway.

As their ragtag band dragged themselves out of the impromptu SHIELD base, Tony shared a small look with Barnes. Some things never changed. Others did—and that was a good thing.


	2. The Red Room

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, here is the second chapter! Thank you to everyone who kudos-ed and commented on the first one. As always, you guys rock.   
> P.S. I am taking some liberties with a mix of comic, assorted media and MCU canon here, much like I did in Vibranium Hearts, but for the purpose of Bucky and Natasha's background, I'm going with the MCU version. I think that in MCU canon, Natasha does not know Bucky beforehand (although that makes her comment in CW confusing). Zola mentioned in WS that she is born in 1986. We know that by '91, Bucky was already with Hydra (my headcanon was that ownership might have been changed after the fall of the USSR but that's just speculation on my part), so it's doubtful she would have been old enough for him to train her before he went to Hydra, even if she had already been taken by the Red Room at the time.

After the dust from Thanos's invasion settled and the rubble began to be removed, things began to slowly slide into place. Predictably, yet another attempt was made to blame the whole debacle on superhumans—but for once, it was shot down pretty quickly.

It was obvious that it had been superpowered people who'd saved the world. Hell, even the villains had pitched in. Tony made shameless use of the whole thing and in the end, managed to set up the Avengers as an NGO of its own, working in cooperation with the various governments of the world. They formally responded to the UN under the provisions of the Accords, but for the most part, they retained a lot of their independence and the freedom to move. Tony even managed to squeeze in a few extra provisions in the Accords, silencing the last of Cap's protests. Coulson—who had apparently never actually died in the first invasion and had survived the second one too—acted as their liaison while also holding the position of the new director of SHIELD. He recruited Rhodey and Pepper for it, much to Tony's mixed feelings of relief and dread. Everett Ross, who actually turned out to be a pretty decent guy once he got over his snit over Wakanda, helped out on the UN front.

All things considered, the result was fairly satisfying. But going back to the New Avengers Facility didn't much appeal to anyone—too much had happened there—so instead, Tony renovated the Stark Mansion in New York and opened it up for the Avengers to move in.

He'd have loved to say it worked like a charm, but it really didn't. Even years after the fact, there was still lingering resentment over what had happened during the Zemo incident. Rhodey was finally walking again—courtesy of a gift from Loki and Thor—but his original injury still weighed between them. Heavy things had been said and done.

More often than not, Clint wasn't in the mansion at all, and Wanda had practically retreated to his farm. Vision was still recovering from the removal of the Mind Gem. The Asgardians had provided them with a replacement—a gem that could channel solar beams—but the adjustment took time. Rhodey was busy with his work and didn't actually live at the mansion full-time. Sam Wilson was a welcome presence—he seemed to get where Tony had been coming from far more than the others did—but he also had a day job, with the VA. Scott Lang had moved in with Hank Pym instead. During the Thanos debacle, Tony had gotten to know his girlfriend Hope—she was nice, reminded him of Pepper a little and she kicked ass, both in her Wasp suit and out of it—but Pym-Stark relations were still a bit... sketchy because... Howard.

Thor was also a rare presence. He came by when he could, but these days, he was needed in Asgard, since his father was taking an extended nap again. Asgard had suffered losses after Thanos's attack too, so Thor and Loki were rebuilding, and when Thor could come to old Earthgard, he was often with Jane.

Steve... lurked. There was really no other way to put it. He helped a lot with the rebuilding efforts, but when he returned, he always seemed tense, like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. He dated Sharon Carter on and off, but Tony really had no clue how that was going, and it was the last thing he wanted to look into.

Of course, there was Bruce and Spidey. Bruce had slid back into place by Tony's side like he'd never left, once more Tony's science bro. He and Nat were constantly dancing around one another, but with Tony, he was back to normal—or what stood for normal for someone with the alterego of a giant green rage monster. If he blamed Tony for dragging him into the Ultron mess or for working with Ross during the Accords mess, he didn't show it, and on occasion, they even shared laboratory sessions. Sometimes, even Peter joined in—they were constantly working on perfecting Peter's web shooters, and the kid was a genius of his own accord. When T'Challa dropped by for a visit, it all blew up in an all-out science-fest—which Tony loved with a passion.

But the rest of the team still kept their distance, and the strain was pretty obvious.

In the end, in a particularly weird turn—other than Bruce and Spidey—Tony got along best with Barnes. Bucky. They didn't talk about the one time sex thing, but Barnes eventually confessed that the arm he'd been fitted with in Wakanda wasn't quite right. He was more relaxed now that a group of Asgardian healers had removed the triggers from his mind, so Tony jumped at the chance. He was enlisted to help Bucky, and in the process of making things more comfortable for him, they became not-quite-but-sort-of-friends.

It probably wouldn't have happened, but once they started living together, Tony realized all was not well in Supersoldier Bestie land. Tony was terrible with people—just ask Pepper—but it didn't take a genius to realize it. On the rare occasions they all met up for a meal, Tony would sometimes catch Steve giving Bucky a tight-jawed look, while Bucky would avoid looking at Steve altogether. Between the two of them, they went through an obscene number of industrial-strength punching bags. And Tony would have loved to ask what the hell was going on, but out of everyone in the team who could have displayed concern for Steve and Bucky, he was the one who could help the least. So he stayed out of it, covered the bills and quietly gave Bucky access codes for the lab. "For when you need some space," he said, and the look of gratitude on Bucky's face told him he'd made the right decision. What do you know. Miracles did happen.

Still, nothing really changed between them for months. Sometimes, they chatted. Tony tinkered on the arm, and Bucky played with the bots. On occasion, Bucky actually napped on the couch Tony kept in the workshop, and while his sleep was always restless, a part of Tony was flattered Bucky even trusted him enough to be in his presence while he was in a vulnerable state—or as vulnerable as a supersoldier who could kill Tony with a pinkie ever got. When they fought the occasional bad guy, they worked well together. If there was still sexual tension between them—and God help him, there was—Tony studiously ignored it.

He'd have been mostly happy to continue in ignore land, but it was not meant to be. It was Natasha who triggered the second incident. Well, sort of. One day, Tony dragged himself out of the workshop at ass crack of dawn o'clock, making a zombie-like beeline for the coffee maker (damn DUM-E for polluting the one downstairs with his weird sludge anyway, one of these days Tony would donate him to a city college). He procured himself a mug of the heavenly liquid and took a sip—and it was only then that his brain rebooted and he realized that he was not alone in the kitchen.

Natasha was seated at the counter, idly chewing on a bit of apple. "What about that girl from the Wakandan embassy? She seemed nice."

Bucky looked hunted. "Not interested in dating right now."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "That's what the other fossil said. I'll wear you down eventually."

Steve just flipped a page in his newspaper—old man still read the physical press no matter how much Tony had tried to dissuade him—and hummed absently. Natasha scoffed. "You're no use." She zeroed in on Tony. "What do you think, Tony? Who should James date?"

Tony arched a brow. How should he know? Dating wasn't his forte. He'd done plenty of no-strings sex, but dating? Serious relationships? Yeah, that hadn't worked out so well.

Fortunately, Bruce saved him from the awkward situation. He entered the kitchen, obviously in a post-science state too. "I'm sure Sergeant Barnes will know when he's ready to date," he decreed—and sometimes, it really was nice to have the Hulk as a friend, because Natasha let the topic drop.

The peace wasn't meant to last. Two weeks later, Bucky met someone. There was a fire in a downtown shopping mall, and it was so bad that the Avengers had to intervene. They saved a lot of people that day, and while that wasn't necessarily anything new, one particular woman managed to make an impression on Bucky.

Her name was Helen Grayson and she was a theatre student. She was beautiful, with chin-length blonde hair and blue eyes. Tony wondered if there was something about super-soldiers that drew them to blondes. Maybe he should dye his hair blond.

He quickly buried his panic at the thought and focused on the fact that it was a stupid conclusion to draw. On Steve's side, there had been Peggy, and Bucky hadn't shown any interest in anyone else before—except Tony, that brief time, but that didn't count. So he double-checked Helen's background and then very carefully stayed out of it.

It would have been easier if Bucky hadn't stalked into the workshop one day, glowering as fiercely as he often did when he went into battle mode, or, as Tony had come to learn, when Steve was being particularly obtuse. "I can't do this."

Tony put his blowtorch down and removed his protective goggles. "You're going to have to elaborate there, Robocop."

Bucky kept glaring. "Helen."

"Yeah, okay," Tony drawled. "What's the problem?"

It took half an hour for Tony to draw a remotely coherent explanation from Bucky. Bucky wasn't much for words, not since the Winter Soldier, and expressing any sort of vulnerability wasn't easy for him—not that Tony could empathize with that or anything. Anyway, Tony stumbled into the right explanation more out of sheer luck and because of his own history being stupid about women.

"So... Let me see if I understand this. Helen wanted to get down and dirty and you panicked and ran away?"

"I was... We were doing fine," Bucky explained haltingly. "But I just couldn't... I don't know... I couldn't do it." He eyed Tony with a speculative glance. "I didn't have any problems with you."

Tony blinked. Okay, so he hadn't expected that to ever be brought up. He took it in stride anyway.

"Well. It was a life-and-death situation. Maybe that's why? Or maybe you over-think things when you're with Helen?"

"Maybe," Bucky said. He didn't sound convinced.

Tony knew he shouldn't do it, but Bucky was there, and God help him, Tony was man enough to admit that he wanted to feel that metal hand on him again, and maybe more.

"Do you think it would help you figure it out if we tried again?"

It was a terrible idea. He knew it even as he said it. But apparently, he was the king of terrible ideas, especially when it came to Bucky Barnes—and especially if it involved Bucky Barnes and sex.

Bucky was dating Helen, so he would definitely say no. For all that he'd been a bit of a ladies man before the war, he'd never led on a woman. Or so Steve said. Tony wouldn't know. Anyway—the point stood. Bucky wouldn't cheat on Helen. That was the way it was supposed to go.

Except Bucky didn't say no. "You sure?"

Let it not be said that Tony stepped back from a challenge. "Wouldn't have offered if I wasn't."

It was a huge lie, but Bucky let him get away with it. Suddenly, his stance shifted. The uncertainty and frustration in his eyes melted into something else—something predatory.

Bucky was actually a fairly tall guy—not as tall as Steve or Thor, but far more than Tony (not that the height difference was anything new when it came to Tony and the Avengers). Usually, that wasn't very obvious, since Bucky often tended to slump in on himself, as if trying to make himself smaller. It was something Tony had often seen in Bruce, the "hunted animal" look.

There was no sign of that now. Bucky straightened his back to full height and simply strutted to Tony's side, like he only ever did when they were in battle. The next thing Tony knew, Bucky was pinning him against the workshop table and crushing their mouths together. Tony's eyes flew open—they had not kissed the day of Thanos's invasion—but he forgot all about being shocked when Bucky proceeded to tear his clothes off.

His already questionable scruples died a prompt death, and he had no trouble producing a tube of lotion and pressing it into Bucky's metal hand. Bucky didn't ask why Tony had it, bless his soul. He simply opened the tube and proceeded to make good use of the substance. And God, if the hand had felt good on Tony's dick, it felt even more amazing when those metal fingers were stretching him.

By the time Bucky bent him over his own workspace and slid into him, Tony was already dissolving into incoherence. He braced himself against the metal surface as Bucky pounded into him. Because of the super-serum in his blood, Bucky had a slightly hotter temperature. He also made condoms useless, and between that, and his strength and overall enthusiasm—it all made for a very wild ride for Tony.

He came first, just from the rough fucking. Bucky followed him a few seconds after, filling Tony with hot cum. Tony's knees went weak and despite of the support of the table, he'd have fallen if Bucky hadn't kept him up.

They ended up stumbling onto the couch, still breathless, filthy and only halfway naked. Tony was sore and had spunk running out of his ass. He hadn't felt so good in a long time.

"I'd say our experiment was successful," he said, still panting. "No problems at all. Unrelated to life-threatening situations. Full marks on performance."

Bucky snorted. "Good to know."

The next day, Bucky had a date with Helen. Tony very carefully told himself he wasn't jealous, that he and Bucky weren't like that anyway. The call to assemble distracted him from his less-than-convincing thoughts.

Tony was almost relieved to have a battle to focus on—up until he realized what he was dealing with. The alert had come from Bucky himself.

The team came together in record time. Tony was first on scene, and got a perfect view of Bucky delivering a perfect roundhouse kick to his girlfriend's face.

He'd have probably been concerned that Bucky had lost it again if the woman in question hadn't promptly gotten up and launched herself at him again in a move alarmingly similar to Natasha's techniques. Also, there was the little tidbit that apparently, she'd brought friends.

In the end, Tony and the rest of the Avengers managed to subdue the other agents with a fair amount of ease, and Bucky took Helen down with only moderate damage to her—and his metal arm.

"You were the greatest warrior the Motherland has ever had," Helen shouted as she was being led away by a team sent by Coulson. "How could you let the Americans tame you?"

Bucky watched on, silent and blank-faced. Sometimes, Tony forgot that originally, it was the Russians who'd turned Bucky into a weapon, and Hydra had only "procured" him after.

Steve reached for Bucky, but Bucky dodged him, strapping his weapons back into their invisible locations. "Come on. We're done here."

As it turned out, Helen Grayson was actually Yelena Belova, a spy from the Red Room, another member of the Black Widow program. No one, not even Natasha had suspected it, and Tony suspected a huge part of it was because Yelena did seem to have some sort of feelings for Bucky. Not feelings of love, clearly, but maybe something like... hero worship? God only knew. Either way, it was unclear as to what the Red Room wanted with Bucky now—they couldn't possibly think they could take him back—and Yelena didn't say a word after that outburst, but Natasha made sure Yelena and her cronies were secured and wouldn't escape, and for once, the Raft came in handy.

Secretly, Tony was relieved. He told himself it was because he didn't want to be the reason why Bucky cheated on a potential love interest, and that it was always nice to have another threat out of the way, but he knew better than to believe it.

It was two weeks later that Bucky made the first crack about his bad luck with romance in the new century. It was still awkward, but it made the others stop tip-toeing around Bucky. Tony laughed along with them and promptly didn't think about the sharp pang of hurt in his chest.


	3. Doctor Doom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! Woot! Thank you to everyone who kudos-ed and especially to everyone who commented! Every review is appreciated.  
> And on that note! I read every single comment I received I was gone and THANK YOU again to all those who read and reviewed my work during my absence. I don't have the time to reply to all of them individually, but know that they mean a lot.  
> Back to the story... The arc that starts in this chapter is inspired heavily from Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Of course, I adapted it to the MCU, so you shouldn't be confused and no knowledge of EMH is required. But just in case you ever have an issue, feel free to drop me a line and ask. EMH is my favorite Marvel show ever (still sad that they canceled it).   
> Other than that, I'm largely basing the F4 and Doom on the CapTorch Humerica version of them (first movie, not Silver Surfer) - and of course, EMH.

After the Helen-Yelena incident, Tony and Bucky fell back into their previous routine, once more shelving the fucking thing. Tony had sort of resigned himself to it not happening again.

Then, in a particularly dubious twist, Tony was kidnapped.

Tony had been out of armor at the time, at a Stark Industries board meeting. There had been no evil speech and no warning. Tony had just gotten a look of some ninja-looking people and had taken cover and summoned his suit, while doing his best to fight the ninjas. But for all that he was in the best form of his life—alarmingly so, in fact—the ninjas had come prepared, and they didn't try to cut Tony down or anything straightforward like that.

They simply dosed him with some sort of substance. The first time the dart hit him, it didn't work, but at the third one, the world started to grow blurry and yeah... Floor meet Tony Stark's face.

Now, Tony had a fair amount of experience with kidnappings—it came with being first the son of Howard Stark, then a genius weapons maker and Iron Man. But out of all the times he'd been kidnapped, he'd never woken up in a soft bed, in a room that looked like something out of the Lord of the Rings. There was even a watchful figure next to Tony's bed, and Tony had an eerie moment when he empathized with Frodo.

The sensation promptly faded when his so-called guardian turned out to be a Doombot. "Welcome to Latveria, Mr. Stark. We hope you enjoy your stay."

"This is some sort of joke, isn't it?" Tony told the robot. It didn't reply, but Tony got his answers anyway—about half an hour later.

After being provided with new clothes—and Tony decided to not think about what had happened to his old ones—told that yes, it was completely safe to use the facilities and repeatedly explained that it would not be a good idea to attempt to disassemble the Doombot for a misguided escape plan, Tony was led to Doom's throne room—at which point things got really weird.

Doom wasn't actually on his throne. He was in front of a capsule of sorts, analyzing the readings from a machine which perked Tony's curiosity.

"Ah, Mr. Stark," Doom said. "Welcome. Please, approach."

There was a biting reply on Tony's lips—he hadn't exactly received a courteous invitation—but it died when he caught sight of what was actually in the capsule. It was a person dressed in a very distinctive blue suit. The liquid swirling around the captive blocked the details, but the long blond hair and distinctive feminine features clarified any confusion.

"What the hell... What are you doing with Sue Storm?"

"Look closer."

Tony did, and he realized the person in the capsule was not in fact Sue Storm—but someone who looked a lot like her—with one very significant difference. She was reptilian—her skin green and her ears pointed.

"This creature is a Skrull," Doom explained, "and is the reason why I had to extract you. You see, Mr. Stark, Skrulls are a race of aliens that can mimic any feature of an individual—from voice, to tics, body language—anything. I have reason to believe Susan was not the only person targeted, and the other superhero teams or supervillain groups have been hit as well."

"How do you even know that?"

"I intercepted a communication sent from the Baxter Building by the fake Susan Storm. She was speaking with someone on Hydra Island and mentioned the Avengers, but it was too vague, and they realized I was listening before I could find out more. I succeeded in knocking out the Skrull, which made her revert to her original form—but my studies on Skrull biology are incomplete. I fear their invasion has already begun."

Tony had no reason to believe Doom—except for two things. Doom might be a megalomaniac and a psycho, but his plans for world domination didn't usually involve this sort of scheme. He wanted people to know they were ruled by Doom. Since Thanos's invasion, he'd also focused on Latveria. The country had pretty much gotten away unscathed since Thanos's forces had converged on the bigger threats and countries with very visible landmarks, but Doom was a paranoid bastard. Also, for all Doom's villainy, he and Tony had a mutual respect thing going on. After the invasion, Doom had actually told Tony it was only a matter of time until something happened again. Tony had agreed—he remembered all too well the time Thor had first mentioned that SHIELD's work with the Tesseract signaled Earth was ready for a higher form of war. He'd hoped Thanos would be the end of it, yes, but really, he'd known better. Apparently, both he and Doom had been right.

The second reason was Susan Storm herself. Doom was widely known to hate the Fantastic Four, but what was less known—and what Tony had only found out because he was a nosy bastard and Sue's brother Johnny talked too much—was that Doom and Sue had actually dated and almost gotten married before the whole cosmic rays thing had happened, changing her life forever. Reed Richards had stepped in and Sue had married him instead—for some obscure reason Tony had never understood because Reed was an asshole. Johnny speculated that Doom's vendetta on the Fantastic Four was because of the jilted lover thing, and that might have been true, but during Thanos's invasion, Doom had stepped in when Susan Storm had almost been crushed by a building.

Conclusion: Doom was probably telling the truth. There was just one dilemma Tony had.

"Why are you telling me this? How do you know I'm not a Skrull?"

Doom shook his head, insofar as that obsolete armor of his even allowed him to. "While your teammates may have been targeted, the Skrulls cannot replace you. You have touched power beyond their reckoning. They cannot mimic that."

Tony didn't bother denying it. He knew better than to insult Doom's intelligence, and it was clear that Doom was well-informed—otherwise he'd have never risked taking Tony and talking to him about the Skrull thing to begin with. "Do I even want to ask how you know that?"

Tony had tried to keep under wraps the fact that using the Gauntlet had changed him. Tony had never expected to have to pretend to look older than he did—but there it was. He'd started to dye his hair when his previous salt-and-pepper had returned to the dark brown of his youth and on occasion, even took to wearing tech that would make him look older. He wasn't around the other Avengers long enough for them to notice anything suspicious, and he tried to keep it subtle enough that the people he actually had contact with would remain oblivious, but he feared Pepper had noticed something, as had Bruce and Peter. He was pretty sure Bucky had, although his own personal cyborg had never mentioned it.

Doom provided no explanation on the issue, not that Tony expected him to. "All right. So I can't be a Skrull. But I'm assuming there's a plan here? Tech we can make to find the Skrulls?"

Doom never got the chance to reply, because the wall of the castle exploded, and in flew Vision, carrying Cap. Wanda levitated Black Panther. Rhodey brought Bucky in of all people, and the two birds had apparently decided to stick together since Falcon had carried Barton, with Redwing providing support. The theme preservation motif continued since Scott Lang was flown in by his girlfriend.

To make things even more hilarious, Spider-Man leaped in next—carrying Black Widow. Tony would have burst into laughter if not for the fact that the Hulk made his own entrance, and wow, did the Other Guy look pissed.

Tony actually felt kind of flattered that they'd all come for him like this.

Rhodey directed all of his guns at Doom. "Step away from Tony, Doom."

"You heard him," Cap said. "Stand down."

Hulk roared—he hadn't attacked, but that was probably just because Tony was pretty much standing in the way and would be smashed too if Hulk attempted anything. But it was Bucky who freaked out Tony the most. Bucky could have been wearing the Winter Soldier mask for all the life that was in his eyes. He was obviously not much into the idea of waiting and negotiation, because Cap had barely managed to finish the phrase when Bucky lifted his metal arm and shot a bolt of energy at Doom.

His aim was true, and he somehow managed to find the only existing angle that allowed him to shoot without putting Tony in the line of fire.

A shield flared to life around Doom—but the beam went straight through it. Bucky hadn't been pulling his punches. Doom flew several feet away and crashed straight into his throne, making it crumble.

"What the hell?" Rhodey asked. "Since when do you have repulsors in your arm?"

Bucky didn't reply. "It's a new addition," Tony said, unable to fully suppress his smugness. Then, he realized now was not the time to do a happy dance that his new tech had worked, because Bucky was still in murderous mode, and for all his kidnapping ways, Doom wasn't actually the enemy here.

"Hey, no. Relax. I'm fine. I promise it's a misunderstanding. Well. Mostly."

Bucky glowered at him, but upon scanning Tony from head to toe, he must have realized Tony wasn't hurt, because he lowered his arm. The others didn't seem so impressed. "A misunderstanding," Natasha said blankly. "You call kidnapping a misunderstanding, Stark?"

Tony was promptly the recipient of the "we're disappointed in your life choices, Tony" look from several Avengers—which Tony thought was very unfair. Fortunately, Peter once again proved his worth as Tony's occasional minion and pointed at the glowing tank with Skrull-Sue. "What the hell is that?"

Doom was already getting up, booming, "You dare attack Doom in his own home? You will pay..."

Tony could already see the disaster coming—the entire castle was full of Doombots and they were already entering the throne room. He didn't have much time to do damage control, so he did the best he could. He talked. "That, my friends, is an alien. And Doom's on our side. Kind of. See... Here's what happened."

He launched himself into an elaborate explanation—including the Lord of the Rings like description of the room—and by the time he even reached his conversation with Doom, Hulk had realized there was nothing to smash and had let Bruce come out. Of course, the fact that Tony had surreptitiously made his way to Hulk's side probably also had something to do with that, but then Brucey was Tony's science bro. Tony hadn't been afraid of the Hulk when he and Bruce had first met—he wouldn't start now.

"So... I'm assuming Doomy was doing his creepy stalkerish thing of the F4, and he ran into an incipient alien invasion. Neat, isn't it?"

"That's not exactly how I'd describe it," Barton replied.

"Is it too late to cancel my membership?" Scott mumbled, earning himself an elbow to the stomach from Hope.

"Do you think he's telling the truth, Mr. Stark?" T'Challa asked.

"I think so, yes. He has no reason to lie. Even for Doom, this is too elaborate."

"Also, he hasn't kicked us out of his fancy castle yet," Peter pointed out. "There's that."

"He speaks the truth," Wanda said, her vaguely accented voice echoing like a sentence.

Doom crossed his arms over his (still somewhat smoking) chest. "Doom anticipated your arrival. Destroying you right now would just defeat the purpose of the invite."

"Invite," Bucky repeated, speaking for the first time. The vents in his arms opened and closed. Obviously, he wasn't impressed by Doom's manners. Was it crazy that the murderous look was getting to Tony's libido now that it wasn't actually directed his way?

Yup. Crazy. Totally crazy. Tony clearly had issues.

"I think it's safe to say your approach needs some work," Steve offered, thankfully drawing Tony's attention from his far too distracting bestie. "But we'll hear you out. If you're telling the truth, this could be serious."

Good Ol' Cap. Tony could always rely on him to point out the obvious.

In the end, it turned out that Doom wanted to build a scanner for Skrulls, but for all that his tech was advanced, he wasn't quite there yet. He didn't admit it outright—he would never say he needed help—but he strongly suggested that it would be more "efficient" if they combined his own work with Wakandan tech, Tony's stuff and Pym's. Doom's interest in the Avengers this time around was their combined intelligence. Who knew?

Tony didn't mention Doom's suspicions regarding the Avengers being compromised too. He didn't know why he kept it quiet. Maybe it was precisely because he believed it. But obviously, he wasn't the one with trust issues, because Tony took one single moment to clear his head in one of Doom's balconies—and Bucky ambushed him.

"When did I have sex the first time this century?" he asked without preamble.

Tony was actually grateful Bucky had approached him himself. "You, me, evil space ship. You're very vocal when you get a blowjob. I liked your metal hand on my dick."

Bucky nodded, some of the strain going from his shoulders. It was Tony's turn to ask. "What did I see when we ran into Thanos?"

"Weird-ass woman," Bucky replied without missing a beat. "Dressed all in black, no face I could glimpse. Probable identity is Mistress Death."

Well, then, that answered that. That was something no one knew about, not even FRIDAY. Tony had actually thought Bucky would have mentioned something to Cap about the two of them bumping uglies, but apparently not.

It was weird for Tony to realize that Bucky was the only one from the team he shared secrets with. He couldn't think of anything else that was really a huge secret only one person from the team—or, hell, from the entire world—would know. Bruce was his friend, but wasn't so great at listening and he kept his own secrets close to his chest—when his anger didn't come out in a big and green explosion. Tony loved Rhodey in a platonic life partner kind of way, but he and his friend had had their differences in the past, and Tony couldn't quite bring himself to share some things with him. The Civil War incident had both brought them closer together and torn them further apart, since Tony had never gotten over his guilt over Rhodey's paralysis, not even after Rhodey had gotten his mobility back. Tony and Pepper were still friends and she knew about his PTSD, but the "this is a whole new level of lame" still burned, even years after the fact. JARVIS had been the keeper of his secrets, but... Best not to think about that right now.

As for the other Avengers... He sort of trusted T'Challa, up to a point—the man was fundamentally honorable—but he was also a king and his history with the Starks wasn't the greatest. Vision probably came closest to another friend on the team, but there were so many entanglements there it wasn't even funny. Between Tony's grief over JARVIS, Vision's incomprehensible affection for Wanda and his overall youth and inability to understand human emotion... Well, suffice to say Tony wasn't going to open up to him anytime soon.

Barton still resented him for the Raft thing, although Tony would never understand what the guy had expected when he'd left his family to follow Cap in an illegal quest. Most days, he would have rather had Doom at his back than Natasha. Steve and Wanda fell in the "no comment" category, Scott and Hope were nice enough—but they were Pym's people—and Wilson was primarily a Cap follower, well-intentioned, but just not trustworthy.

So... Against all odds, Bucky was the only one left. A few years ago, he'd have probably deemed that depressing. Now, he was just thankful he had Bucky to begin with.

"You think there's someone on the team who's a spy?" he asked his hot ex-Russian assassin.

Bucky grunted. "You weren't saying everything earlier. And it makes sense."

Tony stared at Bucky. "I think I should be alarmed that you can read me so well."

"Nah. Secret's safe with me."

Tony believed him. He'd have probably done something idiotic like kiss Bucky, but it also occurred to him that there was one person who could probably read all of them—one person who would be very dangerous for a secret invasion.

He gave Bucky a telling look, and Bucky nodded. "I'll keep my distance and watch her. You be careful too, okay?"

Bucky slid back into the building. Tony watched him go and in his wake, he whispered, "Okay."


	4. The Skrulls Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longer chapter today :) This is where I mention that the author is not a scientist, IT specialist, doctor or physicist so it's quite possible that this story will contain the classical COMIC-SCIENCE we're all so used to :).   
> Other than that, thank you to everyone who kudos-ed and commented! You guys rock!

In the end, it was not technology that led to the discovery of the traitor in their midst. It was the fact that Tony and Bucky couldn't keep it in their pants.

As much as they tried, the Avengers couldn't work with Doom long enough to create a working prototype of an anti-Skrull device. Or maybe Doom couldn't work with them. In the end, they were forced to flee Latveria with a horde of Doombots chasing after them.

Back in New York, Tony promptly buried himself in doing more research. He avoided the main floor, very much aware that it now held at least one Skrull. He needed to make some sort of breakthrough before he went out and accused Maximoff of anything. Doom was unsure up to what point the Skrulls could borrow the abilities of their victims, so Skrull-Maximoff might be able to read Tony too. If she was even a Skrull. She might not be. The Avengers might still be clear of invasion.

It was doubtful, but it was something Tony had to take into consideration. The Avengers were just starting to get their act together again. Tony couldn't afford to take any chances with that.

He did have a plan on a potential fix. Doom had stated that if the Skrulls were knocked out or injured, they lost control over their form. So Tony was thinking that all he had to do was seal the mansion and let out some gas.

The problem was that the biology of the Avengers was so different, and a gas strong enough to take out Cap and Bucky would kill the normal humans. Bruce would probably not react well to being dosed—he'd gone through that with Ross. And then, there was the fact that everyone needed to be here at the same time. Peter had left shortly after their return from Latveria, as had Rhodey. The others were still here, but Barton had already been making noises about leaving. It left Tony with little options about what he could use.

Tony felt so nauseated that he'd been reduced to once again considering weaponry that would suffice to take his own team out. It was what eventually drove him out of his lair and made him take refuge in the kitchen.

He didn't have any particular plan, which was just as well, because when he reached for his mug, his hands were shaking so badly he dropped the damn thing. It hit the floor with a jarring sound that echoed in Tony's mind like nails on a chalkboard.

Tony stared at the shards of pottery for much longer than he'd have liked to admit. He didn't want to think it was a metaphor of his own failures—it was a broken mug, for fuck's sake—but he still couldn't shake it, shake the bitter taste in his mouth and the feeling of ominous doom that hung over him like a malevolent cloud.

Naturally, that was when Bucky came into the room. "Tony? Are you okay?"

Tony blinked and looked at Bucky. "Sorry. I just... I guess I was a little..." He realized exactly who was witnessing him having a near panic attack and tried to shake himself out of it, but it didn't really work.

Bucky approached Tony like he was a skittish animal. He walked around the shards and joined Tony by the counter, without actually making a move to touch him.

He didn't talk, but then, that wasn't exactly surprising. It also didn't matter. As a rule, Bucky was a pretty quiet guy—came with the whole Hydra assassin shtick—but sometimes, his arm would get the better of him. In hindsight, it made sense that the sound of the servos whirring would soothe Tony. He wondered if Bucky was doing it on purpose. Stupid Bucky with his stupid handsome face and his stupid blue eyes. Tony didn't need to deal with this right now.

"I don't need to deal with this right now," he said, just because he could.

Bucky gave him an unreadable look. "Deal with what?"

Yeah, okay, they were still doing the not-talking about it thing. "Nothing," Tony mumbled. At least his irritation with Bucky had chased away his previous morose mood. That was something.

Bucky intercepted Tony before he could flee the kitchen. He simply blocked Tony's exit. He seemed unsure of what to say, and just simply stood there, staring at Tony.

It occurred to Tony that he wasn't the only one here with massive trust issues. Bucky was just beginning to get himself together, and the Avengers and their acceptance were an integral part of that. Losing that was a serious blow, especially if Bucky felt he couldn't even trust Steve. The two of them had already had problems before. Before what? How could they even know when exactly the Skrulls had started their invasion?

It couldn't have been before Thanos, since it would pay to try to invade a planet already the target of somebody else, but after that... Tony had no idea.

How was it that the only villains who had ever come close to beating the Avengers were the ones who tore them apart from the inside?

Tony wanted to say that it was going to be okay, that they would figure it all out and find the intruder. But the lie just wouldn't come, and given that Bucky had just seen him fall apart, Bucky would probably not believe him anyway.

He didn't know who reached for whom first, but it was irrelevant, because a heartbeat later, they were kissing. Bucky effortlessly lifted Tony off the floor—deftly avoiding the shards of ceramics and setting Tony on the counter. Dear God, that was ridiculously hot. Bucky's metal hand was already reaching for Tony's belt when he suddenly froze.

Tony groaned in protest, wanting nothing more than to get Bucky back to what he was doing. It was not to be.

He looked past his shoulder, only to see Steve standing just a few feet away from them. "Uh," Steve said intelligently.

Bucky didn't turn, instead keeping his gaze forward on the wall behind Tony. It was just as well, because there was something on Steve's face, a flicker of something... Tony couldn't quite put his finger on it—and maybe he was just being paranoid—scratch that, he was definitely being paranoid—but he heard himself talking anyway. "Sorry, Steve. I know you didn't want us to do this in public areas, but you know me. I'm a terrible influence."

"No, it's fine," Steve said quickly. "I was just... taken by surprise."

Bucky was primarily an assassin, but he'd also done infiltration missions, and Sergeant Barnes of the Howling Commandos had been less about the metal arm and the brute force, and more about the subtlety and patience of a sniper and a spy. Apparently, the skill had stayed with him, because when he turned, his voice was calm and welcoming. "Come on, Steve. Weren't you the one all up in my face about how I should seize the moment, cos you never know what happens?"

If Tony's previous guess was correct, Bucky had never told Steve about Tony so there was no way he and Steve would have had that conversation. But Steve didn't seem deterred by Bucky's comment.

"Well, yes, can you blame me?" Steve's smile held the sad curve which Tony recognized as the "Peggy" smile. "I didn't get my chance. I don't know if I ever said it, Buck... But I'm glad you got yours. Tony's good for you."

"Huge compliment, Cap," Tony said. He leered at Bucky. "And believe me, I do my best."

Bucky rolled his eyes. "Can you believe this guy, Steve?"

Steve nodded sagely. "I can indeed. He's as much of a smart ass as you are."

"Punk," Bucky said.

"Jerk," Steve replied automatically.

It was a comfortable, familiar exchange and Tony hated it as much as he did the "Peggy-smile". Because this Steve was really not their Steve. And not-Steve had no right to the private jokes and the nicknames and Steve's history with Aunt Peggy. Clearly, Bucky thought the same.

He left Tony on the counter, surreptitiously putting himself between not-Steve and Tony. He reached for not-Steve, as if for a hug. Not-Steve reached back, and Bucky promptly stabbed him—right in the stomach. "You replaced the wrong guy, bud," he said, his voice now dead and clear of all emotion.

For a dreadful moment, Tony thought his and Bucky's guess had been wrong and Bucky had accidentally stabbed the actual Steve Rogers, but no. The injured guy groaned and promptly turned green.

"Oh, thank God," Tony breathed out.

FRIDAY was already ringing the alarms, but by the time the other Avengers got to them, Bucky had already pinned the Skrull to the floor. It would have been more useful if the alien hadn't been, you know, bleeding out, but hey, Tony couldn't really blame Bucky for being pissed.

He should have probably intervened, but he was still reeling from the fact that Steve had apparently been replaced by an alien, so he ended up still seated on his perch on the counter. The others seemed just as taken aback. "What the hell, man?" Wilson asked.

Tony wasn't sure the question was addressed at him, but he replied anyway, "The Skrulls got Steve. The impostor gave himself away and Bucky stabbed him."

Fortunately, nobody asked how exactly Skrull-Steve had given himself away. Lang peered a little closer. "That's... a lot of blood. Is he going to live?"

Tony shrugged, feeling a dose of morbid fascination. "I... guess? No idea."

"We should probably do something about it," Bruce said, fidgeting nervously.

In front of him, Bucky kicked Skrull-Steve in the face. Something cracked. The Avengers stared at Tony.

"What?" Tony asked, bristling. "Why are you all looking at me?"

Natasha arched a brow—and seriously, how did she do that? The eyebrow thing that perfectly conveyed the "I-know-what-you're-doing-Tony-and-I'm-not-impressed" message? "You and Steve are basically the leaders of the Avengers. You're also the only guys Barnes listens to... ever. Steve's obviously not here, so... You're it."

"Gee thanks, Nat. Nice to know I'm so wanted." Wasn't it telling that even now, he was second best to Cap? And what the hell was he doing, feeling sorry for himself when Cap had been kidnapped by fucking aliens?

_Jesus, Tony, get a fucking grip._

Theoretically speaking, the others could have intervened too, but if they did, they might have to sedate Bucky or something along that line, which... Yeah, no.

Tony got off the counter and padded to Bucky's side. He idly noted that Bucky had somehow managed to make Skrull-Steve land right in the shards of the mug Tony had dropped. Always such a great aim.

Pushing back his own ridiculous musings, Tony poked Bucky's arm—the flesh one. "Hey. We need him to figure out where Steve really is."

Surprisingly, it worked. Bucky kicked the fallen Skrull one more time before he finally pulled back. "Right. Information."

Bruce and Sam swept in to presumably provide some medical assistance to their intruder. Even as they did so, Natasha's Widow Bites hit Wanda in the back.

Wanda's body convulsed and Tony yelped at the sight. Clint gaped at Natasha. "What the hell..."

Vision was already moving forward to catch Wanda, which was not a good idea, since electricity was still coursing through her. Still, he would have probably held on anyway if the now unconscious Wanda turned green. Clint went very pale. Skrull-Wanda fell out of Vision's now limp arms. "How..."

"The others were thinking it too," Natasha explained, her fine features like chiseled stone. "Wanda was the obvious target. She could have sniffed the intruder out with ease."

Vision looked between Skrull-Wanda and Skrull-Steve, and Tony felt bad for him. He was still so young in some ways, and his feelings were Wanda were so sweet, almost naive. He'd managed to forgive the original Wanda even if she had put him through several feet of solid concrete in her bid to escape her so-called "captivity". For all that they weren't quite as comfortable with one another as they'd been pre-Civil War, things had been improving.

The others weren't much better off. Clint had obviously just realized that he'd essentially invited an evil alien into his home, with his vulnerable and very breakable wife and kids. Sam and Bruce were focusing on Skrull-Steve with such intense determination that it was obvious they didn't want to think about what that meant. Bucky and Nat were more blank-faced than ever before.

And things only went worse from there. They had the two Skrulls taken to the underground level of the mansion. Skrull-Steve woke up just as he was being carried down. Despite all the damage he'd suffered at Bucky's hands, he managed to shove aside a distracted Bruce.

Of course, by now, FRIDAY's defense systems had been activated and Tony wasn't taking any chances either. He was there to shoot the Skrull in the face with a repulsor blast. Bucky pinned him down again, at which point it became obvious that the Skrull had stolen a little more than Steve's face.

Tony felt sick, but he couldn't afford to lose it. Even if he was mimicking Steve's enhanced biology, the Skrull wasn't quite up to fighting them. He was vastly outnumbered. He went down under the tranquilizers Bruce brought up, but he was laughing as he did so. "Skrullos will prevail. This means nothing."

Unfortunately, Skrull-Steve had a point. Tony had no idea if Skrull-Wanda had managed to copy Wanda's abilities too, but he didn't dare to risk it. They managed to secure the two Skrulls in their respective cells, using power-dampening cuffs that made the Avengers give Tony long looks. But the Skrulls were still unconscious, which left Tony unable to try to ask anything at all about their mission.

And then, to make a bad day even worse, the Avengers alert started to screech. It was Maria Hill. Coulson had once again, gotten on the wrong end of an alien's weapon. The shit just kept coming.

"It's Barbara Morse," Maria said. "She shot him."

Tony hadn't thought Clint could get anymore pale, but he'd apparently been wrong. Not that Tony blamed him. Tony had met Coulson's new team only briefly, but it had been long enough that he'd found out he and the gorgeous blonde agent who went by the code name Mockingbird had had a thing before Clint had married Laura. They'd long ago left behind any resentment, but the fondness had remained.

"Give us some good news, Hill," Tony said desperately.

"Coulson's not dead."

"I said news, Hill. You and I both know Coulson is going to outlive us all. One of these days, I wouldn't be surprised if I found out you replaced him with an LMD." For all his words, he was relieved Coulson was still breathing. They couldn't afford another loss, and really, Tony liked the crazy bastard. But his relief on Coulson's behalf had to take a backseat to his knowledge of how bad things truly were. "But seriously, Hill... Anything, any news?"

"I'm..."

The connection died with a screech of static. Tony cursed. He hated when aliens took over communications satellites.

He hated it even more moments later, when everyone around him collapsed, screaming and gripping their heads. "FRIDAY, what the hell is going on?" he barked at his AI.

"It seems an outside force has taken hold of Earth's satellites. Boss, they are being used to convey a signal at an airwave frequency that will kill ever human being on the planet."

Tony very pointedly did not point out that he was fine. He was quickly learning that he'd long ago stopped being the standard of "normal human". "Jam the signal, FRIDAY."

"I am doing what I can, Sir, but Stark Satellites are collapsing as well, and the firewalls keep fighting me."

"Well then—we're just going to have to do it the old-fashioned way. Prep the armor."

Tony couldn't be sure, but if there was any other human on Earth immune to the signal, it was unlikely that they could help. What a time for Thor to be off world.

Still, Tony knew tech, and if there was anyone in a position to stop the broadcast, it was him. The signal needed an entire web of satellites to function properly. Tony couldn't blow up every single satellite in time to prevent the damage, but he could hack into the signal as long as he had a direct link.

Sometimes, the best route was not through explosions.

The space armor enveloped him in a shell that felt both comforting and alien. It was one of the suits Tony had built after New York and had later perfected and reforged post his Mandarin breakdown. He'd never gotten the chance to actually use it, since during the battle with Thanos, he'd been too busy doing damage control on Earth to fly up into space.

It came in handy now, though, and Tony could only hope it was fast enough. He thought about his fallen friends, wished he could have done more for them, but also knew that the only way to prevent their deaths was by stopping the signal.

Of course, it was easier said than done. The space armor had a basic independent AI and didn't die out in space—which was fortunate, since without the satellites, he couldn't have gotten to talk to FRIDAY anyway. That didn't mean Tony liked leaving Earth's atmosphere. He anticipated a resurgence in his nightmares after all this.

The only good thing about the whole debacle was that the satellite array needed for an Earth-wide signal was exceedingly large, so it was easy to find a way in—well, easy for Tony Stark, at least. He flew up to one of the satellites and hacked into it through a direct connection.

From there, it was a simple matter of scrambling the signal—or it would have been simple if the signal itself hadn't been crafted by fucking AIM.

Despite Killian's demise, AIM had not actually died out. They'd made their appearance a handful of times in the past year or so, usually testing the waters. They seemed to be targeting Tony's tech, which was unsurprising, if annoying, and they were now led by someone who called himself the Scientist Supreme.

Leaving aside that the title was beyond ridiculous—and Tony would have likely deserved it more than whoever held it right now, thank you very much—AIM was a threat, and Tony would have spent more time tracking them down if not for the whole alien invasion thing. Apparently, he'd underestimated them, because the technology that had been used for this was clearly something related to Tony's own technology. No wonder FRIDAY had had trouble with it.

With the help of his armor's AI, Tony tore through the code and disabled the signal. It took longer than he'd have liked, but finally he was done. Or so he hoped. Fortunately, with the satellites up and running again, FRIDAY could reach him, confirming his assessment.

"Boss, the signal is gone. Medical units are being dispatched to deal with the injured. The Avengers are already waking up."

"Awesome."

"Sergeant Barnes is expressing his distress at your absence. Would you like me to connect a call?"

"Sure," Tony said, not allowing himself to think too much about why that made his heart flutter weirdly. No, there was no fluttering. It was just... echoes. Vibrations from the arc reactor in the armor. Nothing more.

It was a little hard to continue believing that when Bucky's concerned "Tony? What the hell? Where did you go?"made the fluttering increase—but Tony was nothing if not an expert at denial.

"Outer space," he replied. "I'm fine."

Bucky made a noise that was like a cross between the cry of a wounded animal and an exasperated huff. In the background, Tony could hear the servos of his arm working. "Get back down here. Now."

Tony very carefully did not think about why the commanding tone of Bucky's voice got him so hot. He could practically hear Pepper tsking at him disapprovingly. _Priorities, Tony, god._ Right, he still had an alien invasion to handle. His libido would have to wait.

That didn't mean he couldn't provide an answering quip. "Yes, Sir, Sergeant Barnes. Will be right there."

Whatever response Bucky could have provided was interrupted by FRIDAY's voice. "New transmission incoming. Apparent source: unknown aircraft coming toward Earth."

Yeah, okay, that didn't sound very promising. Tony turned and scanned his immediate proximity, half-expecting to see a fleet of Chitauri straight of his Wanda-induced nightmares.

Instead, what he saw was a lone vessel, its shape clearly alien. Tony swallowed around the knot in his throat. His suit was equipped with the latest in weapons technology, but he had no idea if he was actually prepared to take out an alien ship, even one of a smaller size.

"Okay, Fri," he said shakily. "Take the transmission."

"Patching though, Boss."

Tony did not know what he'd expected from the transmission—maybe a "take us to your leader"s—but it certainly wasn't the sound of a very distinctive male voice. "Tony? Is that you?"

"Cap?" Jesus, fuck, Tony was not ready for this. He had just processed Cap's disappearance. Was it another Skrull? He had to find out. "What did I say when I first met you and Barnes in Siberia?"

At the other side of the connection, there was a long pause. Tony didn't read too much into it. It wasn't an easy topic to bring up, and he had known that it would hit Steve hard even when he'd asked. They simply didn't talk about the whole Civil War thing anymore. They'd done the let's-get-past-our-differences shtick, without actually going back to linger over every single detail. But there were only so many things Tony could ask Steve that others would not know, and only Bucky had been there to witness that conversation.

"You said... You said I seemed defensive. I told you it had been a long day," Steve finally said. "Let me guess. A Skrull took my place. Well, at least it's good that you found him."

It was as good a reassurance as he could get. Unfortunately, Tony could not be one hundred percent sure they had the genuine Steve—he was long past the belief that he could trust any version of Steve Rogers, and they did not share secrets. Bucky would have to deliver the final verdict. For the moment, this would have to do.

"That's one way of putting it, although we're not out of the woods yet," he said, keeping his voice carefully level. "The Skrulls just unleashed a signal that could have wiped out all humanity. I just narrowly managed to scramble it, but the threat isn't over."

"Well, we have some the coordinates of their queen. That might help."

"I'd say it would, yeah," Tony drawled. Was it suspicious that possibly-new-Skrull-Cap had such useful information at such a serious time? Hell, yes. But Tony would wait and see what happened before he made a decision. He couldn't trust himself when it came to Cap.

With that in mind, Tony flew back toward Earth. After a few moments of deliberation, he sent the coordinates of the mansion to the ship. He had no idea when Skrull-Cap had actually replaced their Steve, and if there was another replacement on the way, it was better to know as soon as possible.

Once that was done, he had FRIDAY patch him through to Bucky again, making sure to stick to a private channel. "Okay, so... Steve might be coming back. I'm not sure it's him, though. You're going to have to check."

"Copy that," Bucky said. "We'll have to come up with a better method to check if the others are compromised."

"Here's hoping I can complete the scanner soon," Tony grumbled.

Most of the Avengers—sans Bruce, who was apparently keeping an eye on the prisoners—were waiting for him on the lawn of the mansion when he landed. He lifted his faceplate and waved awkwardly. "So... Ready for a possible battle/reunion?"

"You're not nearly as funny as you think, Stark," Natasha said bitingly. Tony wondered if she was bitter over the fact that she wasn't the one who'd sniffed out Skrull-Steve.

It was just as well that possibly-genuine-Steve did not take long in arriving. The palpable atmosphere of distrust between the Avengers was getting to Tony. Things hadn't been this bad even back in the first days of the Civil War, and it was giving him unpleasant flashbacks.

He stuck close to Bucky, which turned out to be a good thing. When the ship landed and the hatch opened, Tony had an unpleasant revelation. It turned out that he wasn't the only Avenger willing to team up with a supervillain. The Skrulls hadn't targeted just superheroes either. Along for the ride in Steve's Skrull space ship was the Scientist Supreme—and hah, Tony should really get someone to try to say that ten times faster—which explained AIM's involvement in the whole debacle. Worse, so was Madam Hydra, looking even... greener than she usually was. Not Skrull green, but... close enough.

Tony couldn't help himself and he stepped in front of Bucky, blocking her view of him. He didn't even think about it—he just did it—and he only realized how out of character the gesture might have seemed for him when everybody stared. Clint even gave him a narrow-eyed look, as if suspecting Tony himself of being a Skrull.

Bucky walked around Tony, breaking the awkward moment. "I get the feeling I missed more than an alien invasion," Steve said, looking from Tony to Bucky in clear confusion.

"I suppose you did," Bucky replied, watching Steve in clear suspicion. He was obviously not happy with Steve's choice of company, but he was ignoring in favor of the bigger problem—them not knowing if this was actually Steve.

"What happened on the helicarrier?" he asked.

Steve's face seemed to crumple on itself—and for all that Tony had his problems with Steve, he hated the Skrulls then for forcing them to go through this shit together. He wondered why Bucky hadn't pulled Steve aside for a conversation that would clearly contain private elements. Maybe he'd ask, later.

"I dropped the shield. I didn't want to fight you—told you you were my friend. You said I was your mission. And I said that...."

"You were with me till the end of the line," Bucky finished. His whole stance relaxed, and a smile broke out on his face. "Welcome back, punk."

Steve rushed to hug his friend, and Tony suddenly felt like he really shouldn't be there. He had always known that Steve and Bucky were a team, close beyond anything Tony had ever had, but still, he'd maybe dared to think...

Nah, he hadn't thought anything. Ignoring the two super-soldiers, he turned toward the rest of the alien kidnapees. Other than the two villains and obviously, Wanda, there was also the missing Invisible Woman, Barbara Morse, and weirdly enough, the director of SWORD, Henry Geirich.

Tony clapped his hands together and put on his best genius-billionaire-playboy-philantropist smile. "So... Aliens. How do we do..."

He trailed off when he got a good look at the insides of the ship Cap had just landed in. Ideas started scrolling through his mind and he grinned. It looked like he might have just answered his own question.


	5. The Skrulls Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, new chapter. This one is a little longer than the last ones. It's part of why I didn't upload yesterday. I wasn't quite happy with the original state of the chapter and I made some modifications and expansions.  
> I hope you like it! And as always, thank you to everyone who read, kudos-ed and reviewed!

It took Tony a little over twelve hours to be able to decipher enough of the Skrull tech, perfect the Skrull detector and attach it to the satellites in a manner similar to the one AIM had used before.

Throughout this time, he didn't see much of the Avengers at all. He had no idea what happened to Sue Storm—presumably she must have returned to the Baxter Building—or any of the others, because he was too busy "science"-ing.

It was worth it, though, because when he emerged from his lair, he had a solution to their alien invasion problem. And not a moment too soon.

The Skrull detectors revealed the Skrulls had replaced far more people than Tony had even realized. Other than Wanda and Cap, the team was Skull-free... But that was where the good news ended. As expected after the Henry Geirich experience, many of the invaders had taken over important positions. And sadly, the battle did not end when they were unmasked.

From Avengers mansion, Tony could only watch in horror as alert over alert popped up on his screen, FRIDAY registering several distress calls as humans registered the invasion in their midst.

True to form, the Avengers didn't delay in turning the responsibility onto Tony. "That wasn't a good idea, Tony," Steve said. "We should have come up with a more secure plan that could have revealed the Skrulls in a more controlled setting."

"So much for a futurist, huh?" Clint mumbled.

"Now's not the time to argue against ourselves," Natasha intervened. For a few seconds, Tony actually dared to hope that she would actually be on his side on this one. Showed what he knew. "Intelligence agencies all over the world have been taken by surprise because of Tony's recklessness..."

"Excuse me?" Tony cut in. "Recklessness? I'm sorry, exactly who am I talking to here? Oh, that's right—the woman who dumped all of SHIELD's files on the Internet. Tell me, do you even know how many people you killed with that stunt?"

Rhodey opened his mouth, perhaps intending to intervene. He never got the chance. "Probably more than the Winter Soldier," Bucky offered, much to everyone's surprise.

Silence. Nobody knew what to say to that. It wasn't like it was a lie. A lot of SHIELD agents had been caught undercover by the data dump, and all the SHIELD bases had been infiltrated by Hydra—not just the Triskelion. Cap had had his reasons to dump the files, but as much as he might not like to admit it, the cost for it had been high.

And really, Tony would have been satisfied enough if any of the Avengers had pointed that out—but the fact that it was Bucky who had said it made all the difference in the world. Cap's jaw dropped and he looked from Tony to Bucky again, just like he had when he'd stepped out of the Skrull ship.

"Natasha is right about one thing," he said after a long pause. "Now is not the time to fight each other. Everybody suit up."

Just like that, the conversation was shelved, but Tony knew better than to think it would end there. And his bad day only got even worse after that point.

With all the hot points of the Skrull invasion popping up all over the world, they were pulled in several different directions. Even if they coordinated with T'Challa and his Doras, Hill's people, Reed Richards, Everett Ross and countless others—it was still difficult to cover all grounds. They had a system in place since Thanos, so they got by in the end, but the large number of Skrulls meant the Avengers had to split into two teams.

Apparently, the Skrulls that had replaced superhumans had copied their powers. That would have been bad enough, but the Skrulls had been experimenting with a mix up of their abilities. As ever, a fairly large group was here in New York, but reinforcements were also requested in Washington DC.

There had been a brief suggestion from the Army that the full Avengers team could strike in New York in force and deal with that problem, then move on to DC, but Tony had known that wasn't an option. Given the high numbers of the Skrulls, dealing with the New York force would take quite some time, and there was no telling what injuries the team would get after. They weren't all super-human, so it wasn't like they could go on fighting forever.

So... Two teams it was. It wasn't ideal, since it also meant they had to leave the Skrull captives solely under FRIDAY's watch—Tony never had gotten to pump up security with other staff from outside the team. They didn't have much choice.

Tony didn't even wait for Steve to make the divisions. He'd had it up to here with Captain Self-Righteous. "Barnes, Bruce, Wasp, Ant-Man, Wilson, you're with me," he said. "Everyone else, with Cap."

Steve bristled, clearly not happy with having his bestie hijacked, but Tony didn't care. Teams needed to be well-balanced. Steve and Bucky often seemed to move together like a well-oiled machine, but their abilities weren't really complimentary. It was why Steve and Tony had worked so well once in the field. Even when they hadn't gotten along as people, that had been the case. During that first battle, with the Avengers, Steve had caught Tony's repulsor beams on his shield and used it to swipe down the Chitauri. Two super-soldiers couldn't do that.

On the other hand, Peter was at his best in New York, where there were a lot of skyscrappers he could use to his advantage. Similarly, Hawkeye needed his perches for efficiency, and at this point, Tony knew that trying to pull him and Natasha apart was an exercise in futility. Vision was one of the most versatile fliers, due to his ability to phase through things, and he could go through buildings with ease. Wanda was still down because of her captivity with the Skrulls, so the team needed another heavy hitter. Bruce could have done that, but he also left a lot of collateral damage behind in a city like New York. Rhodey was an excellent compromise.

And okay, Tony knew himself too well to even pretend he wasn't being petty too. He had been working his ass off for the damn Skrull detector and somehow, he'd still ended up the villain. He was fucking pissed. And okay, he much preferred having Bucky around to watch his back—and when the hell had that even happened, what the fuck? If he could spite Cap and assign appropriate teams at the same time, why shouldn't he do it?

By the time they were forced to drop half the team at the site of the New York Skrull invasion, he had changed his mind. His heart clenched because he could not interfere. He could not take back what he'd already said and done—story of his life, really—so he just directed the quinjet toward DC.

The trip there was quiet. Nobody really knew what to say. Tony piloted the jet. In the back, Bucky was fingering his knives absently. Wilson seemed to be petting Redwing, which Tony secretly found endearing since he did that with his bots often. Bruce was doing the "centering" himself thing with music, and Hope and Scott were talking in low voices.

By the time they landed, Tony was on the edge and more than ready to kick some ass. And as soon as they got there, he realized they had been right to come.

It was a disaster area. The Skrull queen Veranke, who was the one who had replaced Mockingbird and shot Coulson, had gathered a large group of Super-Skrulls and was wiping the floor with the national guard and the local police. SHIELD appeared to be doing a fair job at wrangling the foot-soldiers and the aircrafts, but at ground zero, they were out of their league. Bruce took one look at the sight and went into Hulk mode.

Under Tony's very eyes, Bucky seemed to turn into the Winter Soldier. As for Tony... Well, he felt pretty murderous too.

He soon found that some of the Super-Skrulls—like the guy with the weirdly serpentine tail—weren't so bad, but others... Well, there was no wonder the authorities had called in for reinforcements. Tony was forced to face the combined strength of the Fantastic Four, put together in one single Super-Skrull. It was the first time Tony got to test his armor against the heat of the Human Torch's powers. The temperature isolation held, but the fiery blast was so intense that it made him miss the massive rocky fist—reminiscent of the Thing—headed his way.

At the last moment, a blur of black shoved him aside and took the blow in his stead. A screech of protesting metal reached Tony's ears, and Tony watched in horror as Bucky's body flew to the side, landing a few feet away with a jarring thud.

Tony forgot all about the Super-Skrull and flew to Bucky's side, frantic. "Jesus Christ, Barnes. I thought Cap was the one with the hero complex."

"Says the guy who flew a nuclear missile into outer space," Bucky choked out, his face set in a rictus of pain. "Fuck, that hurt."

Tony suppressed a wince. For Bucky to even admit that something hurt—after everything he'd gone through at Hydra's hands—was more than a little worrisome.

The new arm was Wakandan tech—practically unbreakable, especially after the improvements Tony had added over time. The only problem was that it was attached to a flesh and bone body—and while the Wakandan doctors had taken great pains to make the prosthetic more comfortable for Bucky, it was still only a prosthetic. Then again, the arm could take a lot of damage, more so than the actual body of its owner, so perhaps it was for the best that the Super-Skrull had hit it, and not Bucky's head. God only knew that the last thing Barnes needed was to have his brains even more rattled.

The problem was that the blow had been so powerful it had nearly torn the arm out of Bucky's shoulder joint. Tony could see the circuits sparking where the mechanism had broken. Note to self—build Robocop something better.

"Why did you even do that for?" he snapped.

"Couldn't let you get hurt," Bucky said, already struggling to get up. "Hurt you enough."

Tony gritted his teeth in anger, dread and frustration. His sensors told him that Bucky's injuries weren't life-threatening—thank God for the super-soldier serum—but that didn't mean Tony wasn't pissed off. Maybe it was because he remembered all too well a time when he hadn't cared about the pain in Bucky's voice, too blinded by his own grief and desire for revenge. But the point stood—the fucking Skrulls were clawing through wounds that were just now starting to heal, and he was sick and tired of it.

He got up and faced the Super-Skrull. The creature grinned at him, stretching out obscenely. Tony had always thought Reed's powers were creepy, but they had never looked quite so bad until then.

Tony didn't bother addressing the creature. There was a time for quips and conversation—and it had long ago passed. He simply activated the unibeam and blasted the Super-Skrull. The blast hit the alien dead on.... and instantly vaporized him. In fact, it went straight through him and hit five more Super-Skrulls, killing them instantly.

Yeah, okay, that wasn't... exactly what Tony had intended. His repulsors were powerful, but even the unibeam shouldn't have had the output necessary to vaporize someone. Tony nearly hurled when he realized just how close the beam had come to hitting Bruce, who had been fighting a whole group of Super-Skrulls. He suspected that not even the Hulk would have been immune to it.

He had done something similar before, at a grander scale, when he'd wiped all the Chitauri from existence during Thanos's invasion. At the time, though, he'd had the Infinity Gauntlet on. This... This wasn't his power. He didn't want it to be.

The whisper of something ghostly and intangible swept over Tony and he shivered. Feminine laughter sounded in his ear, and he could have sworn he felt a hand touch his own. It should have been impossible—the armor kept him isolated from all outside interference—but he knew better than to believe he was imagining it.

The hand was bony—literally, it just seemed made out of pure bone—and Tony's teeth rattled as the cold invaded his veins, deeper and more all-encompassing that the Siberian winds. He dropped to his knees, clutching his chest, unable to breathe, hardly even able to think. The armor was dark around him, and he couldn't hear Friday anymore.

He tried to will himself to move, but his head was spinning and he felt like he was weighed down by a million armors, not just one. In the end, he could do nothing but slump down to the ground, feeling completely drained.

The next thing he knew, Bruce was there in his... Brucey form, with Sam Wilson by his side. "Tony?" Bruce asked. "Can you hear me?"

Somehow, Tony managed to nod. "Yeah..." His head started to grow a little less fuzzy at the sound of his friend's voice. "Armor's dead, I think. Overloaded the reactor. Is everyone..."

Bruce helped him pull off his helmet and smiled softly. "It's okay. Everyone's fine. Barnes is hurt the worse, but he's standing and conscious. The arm took the brunt of it."

"Go help him," Tony croaked out. "I'm fine. Just got a bit of a shock."

Bruce ignored him. Together with Wilson, he helped Tony up. They more or less carried him to the quinjet, at which point Tony finally realized the obvious—that the battle was over. "Wait... What happened to the Super-Skrulls?"

Wilson gave him a look of disbelief. "You hit their queen. After she was... well, vaporized, they all sort of surrendered."

"Oh," Tony said lamely. "Well... I guess that's it then."

"Just get some rest, Tony," Bruce said. "You sound like you're on your last leg. You've been pulling crazy hours lately."

Tony was perfectly content with pretending that his not-sleeping was the reason behind his daze. He mumbled a half-hearted protest, just for show, but slumped down on the bench in the quinjet just the same. He wanted to ask about Bucky, but he didn't know how, and his tongue still felt heavy in his mouth.

He must have dozed off, because when he woke up, he was in the medical wing at the mansion. Someone—possibly Bruce—had taken off his armor. Doctor Cho was standing in front of his bed, studying his medical chart.

She eyed him with undisguised disappointment. "Oh, Mr. Stark... Didn't I tell you to take better care of yourself?"

Tony simply stared at her. He had been feeling better than ever since Thanos's invasion. It was one of the reasons why he hadn't looked at the issue too closely. It was just... nice to not be in pain all the time because he had to live with a reconstructed sternum, countless old injuries that had taken a toll on his body, and the damage he had done to himself due to a lifetime of alcohol abuse.

"What did you use for your chest? The super-soldier serum?"

Tony had no idea what she was talking about, but maybe he should have realized it sooner. There was a reason why he hadn't been feeling the same weight on his chest. He just... hadn't known about it.

He carefully tried not to show his panic, but it was easier said than done when the monitors were registering his heartbeat. Doctor Cho's eyes softened. "Relax, Tony. I won't say anything. Patient-doctor confidentiality."

Tony nodded. Maybe he could work with this. It wasn't all bad. "Extremis," he said steadily. "I looked at it heavily to help Pepper, and after Siberia... Well, it was pretty clear that I wouldn't live for much longer without some enhancements."

Lies, all lies. He had known that, but he hadn't made any plans to prolong his life. Why should he? After the Civil War, he had been so tired that he had almost given up altogether. He probably would have, if not for Rhodey, who had needed him in those early days.

But Doctor Cho didn't know that, and Tony had no idea if she would be able to tell from whatever testing she had done. Probably not—Extremis wasn't her specialty.

"You need to be more careful, Tony. The virus is experimental. It took a toll on you. The Cradle can still help you, but if you have a similar episode, I'm not sure what will happen."

The report she showed Tony was not promising. Overnight, his bones had become brittle. He suffered from severe anemia and his metabolism was lagging. His heart was doing worse than during his arc reactor days.

"Let's keep this between us," he said. "I'll fix it. I don't want Pepper or the other Avengers to worry."

"I thought you might say that," Doctor Cho replied. "Very well, but you need to promise me you will deal with the virus."

Tony never did get to make that promise, because a knock sounded at the door. It was, much to his surprise, Bucky Barnes.

"Mr. Barnes." Doctor Cho pressed her lips together in clear disapproval. "You're supposed to be resting."

"I'm good, Doc. Takes more than one flimsy alien to knock me down." Bucky smiled rakishly. "Thought I could drop by to see a fellow Avenger in pain."

Doctor Cho arched a brow at Tony, and he gave her a barely perceivable nod. She probably believed he and Bucky were still on the rocks—which couldn't have been further from the truth.

"I can come back later if you're busy," Bucky said, a little more hesitant.

"No. It's fine. You can stay a few minutes. I need to check up on Mr. Barton anyway. Just remember not to do anything too taxing."

"I'll remember," Bucky said.

As soon as she was gone, his smile dropped off his face—a relief since Tony had known it was fake. Bucky walked up to Tony's bed and sat on the edge, staring at Tony with unfathomable blue eyes.

"So... Vaporizing people. That's a thing now."

"Looks like. Do the others..."

Bucky shook his head. "They assumed it's new tech. Arc reactor related." He paused. "Most of them at least. I'm not sure about Natalia."

Tony's lip curled. Of course. The Black Widow—always a thorn in his spine, even when she was supposed to be on his side.

"She won't be able to take an accurate guess regardless. I told Doctor Cho it's Extremis-related. I expect Natasha will find out that tidbit."

"Well, I ain't gonna tell her she's wrong. And it's not like she was there to see it."

The Brooklyn drawl drew an unwilling smile out of Tony. When Bucky reached for him with his flesh hand, he didn't pull away.

"You're going to have to come see me in the workshop later," he whispered. "I don't trust whoever did your repairs on your arm."

"Whatever you say, Tony," Bucky replied. "My arm is at your disposal."

And Tony had no idea what he was going to do, but for the first time in what felt like ages, it was like he had someone on his side who wasn't afraid of his darker secrets. How strange that it would be Bucky Barnes of all people who would occupy that position.

It just made him feel worse about getting Bucky involved in his fight with Steve, practically using Bucky against his best friend. It hadn't been his brightest moment. "Hey... About earlier..."

Bucky shook his head, cutting off his apology. "'S fine. I get it. Steve was an ass. But then, that ain't anything new."

Tony snorted. "Can't argue with that one. I suppose blaming it on the Skrull would have been a little too optimistic."

"He's always been a stubborn punk. Ain't going to change anytime soon. Don't worry about it."

Tony knew he should probably press the point a bit. He shouldn't let Bucky just give him a free pass on this one. But for whatever reason, Bucky was okay with the whole thing. Tony decided not to question his good fortune. Still holding Bucky's hand, he just closed his eyes and slept.


	6. Interlude: Steve Rogers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I lied. I didn't intend to post today, but then this happened, so yeah... And no, Steve Rogers doesn't count in the 5 times bit, since he's not a supervillain (for all the enduring conflict between him and Tony). I just felt this chapter was necessary since... Well, BUCKY! :P  
> This is the first Bucky POV chapter, so do let me know what you make of it :)

If there was one thing most people took for granted, it was sleeping. Avengers tended to be insomniacs, but if someone made a comment about it, Steve often said that he'd already slept seventy years. He didn't need to sleep more.

Bucky had not had a good night's sleep for as long as he could remember. Cryo didn't count. In fact, most of the time, he did his best to avoid having to sleep. He had good reasons for it.

In his sleep, he was at his most vulnerable. In his sleep, he couldn't defend himself of the one thing he could never chase away or kill—his own past.

The serum in his blood kept him from having to rest as often as a regular person, but eventually he needed to take some downtime. Steve didn't sleep much either—but Steve's nightmares were different, and he only understood Bucky's situation up to a point.

Steve had once told Bucky that he dreamed of the ice, that he would wake up one day and he would once more be seventy years in the future, with everyone he'd ever known gone and dead. It was a genuine fear, especially for someone like them. But Bucky... Whenever Bucky succumbed to exhaustion, one of his victims—the victims of the Winter Soldier—unavoidably came back to haunt him, their screams echoing in his ears. And as of late, his nightmares had been full of Maria Stark's accusing eyes, telling him beyond any shadow of a doubt just how unworthy he was of forgiveness.

There was one other nightmare he had—one that he hadn't shared with anyone. He dreamed of attacking Tony Stark, of Leipzig and Siberia and everything in between—of how the Avengers team had been shattered beyond redemption—because of him.

At the time, during the so-called Civil War, Bucky hadn't given it too much thought. He had been running on fumes, desperate to survive, a hunted animal more than anything else. He barely remembered some of what had happened after Tony had blown off his arm.

But he remembered the way Tony had come up to him in Leipzig, armed with nothing more than a sonic watch, so frail and breakable. For all that he hadn't had the suit at the time, he hadn't hesitated in the face of the Winter Soldier's rampage. Physical pain didn't seem to deter him. The real pain had come after, when he had found out about Steve lying to him.

Steve had told him it had been because he'd been afraid of Tony's reaction to the news—and the incident in Siberia had proven him right. Once upon a time, Bucky would have been inclined to agree. But after he had gotten to know Tony better, gotten to actually hold him and see his smiles... He simply couldn't fathom why Steve hadn't trusted Tony to begin with. And the nightmares only got worse after that, because he kept seeing Tony's betrayed eyes, and Howard and Maria Stark turning into Tony as he killed them over and over and over again.

Of course, Tony didn't sleep either. In fact, the man was fucking terrible at taking care of himself—worse than Stevie had ever been. And somehow, he always, always got into so much trouble it wasn't even funny.

Bucky had sort of taken it up on himself to watch Tony's back—a good decision, as it turned out, given today's experience. It had been painful to take that punch from the Super-Skrull—but he'd never been more glad to experience pain.

Tony was finally sleeping now, and Bucky watched him in silence. After everything that had happened between them, here they were, sharing secrets in the dark. What was Tony even thinking? It seemed... Bucky did not even know how to describe it.

The sound of silent footsteps outside snapped him out of his thoughts. The Winter Soldier training stirred at the back of his mind, and he almost reached for knife—before he recognized the familiar, if not necessarily welcome presence.

A few seconds later, Steve cracked the door open and peered inside. "Buck?"

Bucky supposed he shouldn't have been surprised his friend had miraculously managed to track him down. After today, they did have a conversation pending. "Hey, Stevie. What's up?"

"Thought I could talk to Tony. Dr. Cho said he was up."

Bucky shook his head. "Nah. Conked out a few minutes ago."

Steve nodded. He couldn't have missed the fact that Tony was out for the count. Still, he didn't leave. Instead, he sat down on the lone seat by Tony's bed. He looked pointedly at Tony and Bucky's hands, still entwined. "You wanna tell me what this is all about?"

Bucky didn't bother trying to pretend he didn't know what his friend was talking about. "Come on, Stevie. You ain't dumb. You know what it's about."

"I guess." Steve let out a low breath. "It's just... I did not expect this when I came down from that ship. Feels like I was gone longer than a few weeks. He's your fella, then?"

Bucky shrugged. "I should be so lucky. I don't know what we are, Stevie. He's forgiven me, and we... hang out. I guess."

"Buck..." Steve gave him an exasperated look. "Sam and I hang out. You're..."

"Fonduing?" Bucky asked with a small grin. Steve's face flushed. He'd been just as embarrassed when Howard had told them all the story the first time around.

"Come on, Buck. I'm being serious."

"So am I," Bucky replied, all teasing set aside. "I shouldn't think you'd be in the best position to judge."

Steve jerked and looked away. They didn't speak about things like that. They hadn't then, during the war. While they'd been running, there had been very little time to reminisce. And when Bucky had come out of the ice again, after the Civil War and Thanos and everything else... Well, they'd had other priorities. Looking at Steve now, Bucky suspected Steve had never known he remembered. Steve would have probably preferred it that way.

It wasn't like he'd ever been happy about what Steve sometimes did behind closed doors with Howard. He hadn't understood it—not the sex part, he got that fine, thank you. But he'd resented Howard for his part in making Steve Captain America, and he'd never gotten over it. At some level, he knew Steve had been given a great chance—he had always been so sickly so chances were that without Erskine's experiment, he wouldn't have lived to see his forties. But he, more than anyone else, knew how much it must have hurt for Steve—his Stevie—to turn into Captain America. With Erskine gone, Howard was the only one he'd had left to channel his anger.

He had only started a conversation about it once, though, and Steve had simply said, "Drop it, Buck. You know how it is with the serum. Howard is just giving me a hand. Beyond that, it's none of your business."

Bucky had dropped it.

Maybe Steve had been right then. Maybe he understood it a little better now. If the young Howard had been even remotely like Tony was now... Well, Bucky could hardly point fingers. And he did know. His version of the serum was different, but it had done things to him too. With an enhanced metabolism, enhanced senses and strength came also an enhanced libido. It had never been an issue when he'd been the Asset—being wiped over and over had screwed with that—but he had noticed even after Azzano, although he'd taken great pains to hide it. And now... Well, suffice to say he was glad Tony's house-keeping was discreet.

Steve finally faced him, his jaw set in that determined jut he always got when he was feeling particularly stubborn. "It's not the same," he said. "You know it isn't, Buck."

"I suppose... Can you believe it, Stevie?" he asked absently. "Queer people can actually marry now."

As the Asset, it had never been relevant for him to know. It probably never would be—it wasn't like he was marriage material—but it wasn't like it had been before, in the war.

Steve had been supposed to marry Peggy. He had loved her—Bucky knew that well enough. Similarly, Howard, for all that he had been a rake and a womanizer, was expected to marry someone, to perpetuate the Stark legacy. The Steve-Howard thing didn't change that, for all that Howard hadn't been very subtle about it. And really, it was like Steve had said—simple sex, biological functions. It was the way things had worked then. Hell, Bucky was pretty sure even Peggy had known. That dame had been brighter than the entire Commandos put together, and it had been wartime.

With Tony, though... It could be more than sex. Maybe. Sometimes... Bucky had moments when he dared to hope for it. A fool's hope—but how could he deny it? How could he deny it, when Tony had embraced not only James Buchanan Barnes, but the Winter Soldier?

Bucky had never had the heart to tell Steve that he had been the Winter Soldier far longer than he'd been Steve's friend, James Buchanan Barnes. Even after he'd had his mind back, he couldn't exactly stop. He still looked at a man, and saw three dozen ways to kill him. Quite frankly, that was unlikely to change.

Tony knew—he was too intelligent not to realize it. Hell, he worked on Bucky's arm on a regular basis, and he had actually weaponized it further. Most of the Avengers realized it too, and while they always did their best to help him, there was always a shadow in their eyes, a fear. Even Natalia feared him, and how could she not? He had shot her, twice, and she couldn't control him like she did Banner. She was like him, and she knew that he was just as dangerous now as he had ever been—if not more so.

Tony was different. Tony had welcomed Bucky in his sanctuary, in his life, in his bed, without ignoring what Bucky was. He, who had lost most at Bucky's hands, had smiled at Bucky, granted him forgiveness and affection, a safe place where he didn't have to worry about being anything except himself. He did not flinch away from Bucky's metal arm. It was not the same one he had used when he'd killed Tony's parents, but it was still his, and Tony should have been disgusted. He wasn't.

Bucky wondered if Tony even realized just how much he'd done for him. Probably not. Tony was like that.

He realized he'd drifted into thoughts again when Steve cleared his throat loudly. "Buck?"

"Listen, Steve, you need to let it go. This is between me and Tony. I don't know if it's ever gonna go anywhere, but that's none of your business, ya hear?"

Steve scanned his face with deep blue eyes that suddenly looked very old. Just like that, Bucky knew Steve remembered their conversation about Howard too—so long ago, yet still hanging between them. "All right, Buck. I get it."

Dr. Cho arrived shortly after and dragged them both out of Tony's room. Bucky was moderately lucky in that he could bunk in the medical wing too, close enough to Tony to intervene if something happened.

Sleep didn't come at all that night. The conversation with Steve had stirred old wounds, and when he closed his eyes, he saw the very first medical bench he'd been strapped to, remembered screaming, falling down into the crags in the Alps.

Instead of trying to find rest, he thought about Tony's smile. The cold settling in his bones faded away, chased by a familiar, far more pleasant heat.

It was easy to reach for his turgid flesh, easy to remember the wet warmth of Tony's mouth around him, the way Tony's body had clenched around his dick. So easy to recall Tony's cries when Bucky had fucked him against the bench in his lab, the scent of Tony's hair—machine oil and sweat and man—his rough hands that could still be so careful when they handled him, the way his eyes lit up when he spoke to his little bots... His voice in Bucky's ear. "Yes, Sir, Sergeant Barnes," Tony had said.

He came with Tony's name on his lips, like he always did these days. He didn't even feel bad about it anymore. It was his new normal.

Maybe he'd never tell Tony about what he truly felt about him. Maybe it would never grow beyond this strange undefined thing they had now. But having him close was enough. The hope for more was enough.

It was more than the Winter Soldier had ever had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be honest, how many of you expected Steve to be jealous of Tony? I smh stumbled into something entirely different hahaha. I blame recent Howard fics I've read - and Tumblr's Agent Carter gifs.


	7. Galactus Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND... Here it is. The official "fifth time". For a 5+1 story, this is getting really long, isn't it?   
> Obligatory renewed author's note: Author is not a scientist and is taking liberties with... everything :P

With Tony being an Avenger and all, he had long-time experience with life-threatening situations, supervillains and planetary threats. But there was one particular incident that would go down in history as the day the world nearly ended—at least for him.

It started out as a pretty normal day—or as normal as things could get at this point. Dr. Cho had finally released him from her clutches, and he was in his lab, looking over scans of his own blood samples. Since the battle with the Skrulls—and him keeling over after he'd vaporized their queen—it had become obvious that he could no longer afford to ignore the issue. He wasn't nearly as good at biology as Bruce, but he'd learned a thing or two during the palladium poisoning, and he had FRIDAY as backup. It didn't help him as much as he'd have liked, since the results made no sense.

"It would appear that your cellular structure has modified, Boss, and your cells are multiplying at an accelerated state," FRIDAY said.

"Tell me something I don't know, Fri. It's not the healing that's the problem."

And it wasn't. Honestly, according to Friday's results, Tony shouldn't have even required the use of the Cradle. He'd have recovered fine on his own post-battle.

He poked an apple with a finger, and half of the fruit vanished. "That, that right there is the problem."

"The cosmic radiation that affected you during your encounter with Thanos appears to have imbued you with the ability to manipulate anti-matter. Whenever you use it, the cellular multiplication process is reversed, and your cells begin to degenerate at a rapid pace."

Yeah, that was what Tony had thought... Just great. Tony really should be more careful with what he asked.

"I think Reed got the better deal out of the cosmic rays exposure thing," he mumbled in frustration. "How am I supposed to deal with this, Fri?"

"If anyone can, Boss, it's you."

Tony nodded jerkily and set to work. He sent the bots away—he seemed to have control over the discharges, but he'd only just scratched the surface of the problem. He had found that sometimes, when he got frustrated over something, things would just... vanish in his hands. Just this morning, he'd dropped his coffee because Clint had decided to take him by surprise by emerging from the vents, and half of the mug had essentially dissipated. Clint hadn't been at the right angle to see, but the problem remained, and he didn't want to hurt the bots by accident. Fortunately, he could still manipulate the holoscreens fine, since they were essentially light projections created by FRIDAY's sensors.

He worked for hours on end in an attempt to contain his problem. The end result was a small set of Penning traps that he could use as wrist guards. In theory, the traps would detect discharges and prevent him from vaporizing anyone. In practice... Well, he had no idea if it would actually work.

Tony had a whole new appreciation for Bruce and his past problems. If all else failed, he should probably start asking Bruce for tips on the management of a wildly destructive super-power.

It was as the wrist guards entered fabrication stage that Bucky entered the lab. He didn't speak at all. Instead, he just sat down on the ratty couch that sometimes served as his nap spot.

After a few minutes of silence, Tony finally found it in himself to ask. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah... Just... One of those days."

Tony fell silent. One of those days indeed. Bucky was still struggling with his history as the Winter Soldier. Tony had considered offering him the use of BARF, but the unanimous conclusion had been that relieving memories of torture and murder wouldn't help Bucky handle it better.

More often than not, thought, the "days" seemed to rotate around Steve. Steve had never brought up their argument during the Skrull invasion again, but Tony hadn't missed the dark looks constantly thrown his way. He suspected Bucky received more than that.

Dummy rolled over to Bucky and set his claw on his knee. Bucky absently petted the bot—and Tony's heart clenched. What did it say about him that Dummy was better at comforting another person than he was? Nothing good, he supposed.

They were still dancing around this strange thing between them, and hadn't mentioned it at all since the thing with the Skrulls. Tony was beginning to think they were incapable of doing it in the absence of a supervillain to nudge them along. How was this his life? Were supervillains conspiring to bring him together with Bucky?

Shaking off the mildly alarming thought, he stole a look at Bucky. "How does the arm feel?"

"It's fine." Bucky smiled slightly—one of those rare, honest smiles. "Good as new."

Tony left his screens aside and padded to Bucky's side. Bucky didn't react as Tony sat next to him and cradled the arm. "One of these days, I really have to build you a new one," he mumbled. T'Challa's work wasn't shoddy, far from it, but Tony could do better. And he kept saying that, but something always got in the fucking way. How irritating.

Bucky didn't seem to mind him fondling the arm—at this point, he appeared to have gotten used to Tony's weirdness. He wasn't doing much—he'd already gone over the repairs as soon as he'd been coherent enough to do it—but it always paid to be conscientious. Not to mention that the repulsor tech needed regular maintenance. Technically, he had not originally intended for it to be included in a prosthetic limb so he had to make sure the adjustments he'd made didn't knock heads with the rest of the arm's functions.

It was... kind of nice. Peaceful. Tony appreciated that more than he could have said. Peace was in short surprise these days. He supposed it made sense. It was almost funny to realize that Bucky was the only person since Jarvis—the original Jarvis—who hadn't had any particular expectations of Tony. Maybe it was because their relationship had started so poorly, and they could have hardly done worse than trying to kill one another. Either way, it was just nice to be with someone who didn't constantly look at Tony and point out how fucking inadequate he was in every possible way.

The moment was not meant to last. The sound of the Avengers alarm shattered the quiet. Tony narrowly managed to suppress a whine. What now?

Tony quickly closed up Bucky's arm, and within seconds, Bucky was on his feet and out the door. Tony made a beeline for the armor and let the comforting weight of Iron Man surround him. Maybe some blasting stupid Doombots in the face would help him let out some of his tension.

He should have known it was far more serious than one of Doom's tantrums. It always was these days, and Tony's luck had really taken a turn for the worse. Their target was not a supervillain, not by classical terms at least. It was not even a person. It was something else entirely.

Upon first impression, their new guest looked like a man. A very large, titan-like being, dressed in dark blue armor with purple accents—but a humanoid nonetheless. However, Tony took one look at its eyes, and he knew there was nothing remotely human about what they were facing.

The massive... thing had landed in the gulf, some distance away from the Statue of Liberty. It was already on the move, bypassing Liberty Island as it went. The statue tilted precariously when the creature brushed over its side, and Tony idly thought that it was like a scene torn out of an apocalyptic movie. The water glowed where it made contact with the creature's boots.

In the comms, he heard the other Avengers curse viciously. None of them knew what to make of it. None... Except Vision.

"I caught a glimpse of this while I was exploring the potential of the Mind Gem," he said. "It is called Galactus and it is a cosmic entity that has existed for as long as this universe has. Its only purpose is to consume, and its hunger is such that it can only be sated with planets."

Okay then. So their new guest didn't want to rule the planet or even kill everyone on it like Thanos had. He wanted to... eat Earth. The people were inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

"Well... This isn't good."

"Understatement of the century," Natasha said in the comms.

"Any ideas on how to deal with this thing, Tony?" Steve asked.

"Still assessing the situation, Cap," Tony absently replied. "ETA on reinforcements?"

"Unknown," Friday reported. "The X-Men are in Paris, where apparently some sort of elemental creature has attacked and is employing an unknown magnetic device. The Fantastic Four are dealing with a similar situation in Scotland, and King T'Challa has been attacked in Wakanda. It would appear that a fourth has been sighted in the Pacific Ocean, and has engaged the forces of Hydra."

"Well, I suppose that answers the question as to where the remnants of Hydra have been hiding. Not that knowing it helps us now. I don't suppose it could be unrelated, huh?"

"Unlikely," Vision said. "Galactus is known for employing heralds as scouts in his quest to find planets to consume."

Tony let out a slow breath. So they were on their own, at least for now. "Okay, Fri... Let's see what we can find out about this thing."

He flew a little closer to Galactus, who was currently stepping out from the water and heading inland. There was already chaos on the streets, people screaming, trying to get out of the way. Tony had no idea if there were already casualties, but he had to hope that the police and the hospitals could handle at least some of it. If they didn't find a solution for Galactus's presence, it would all be for nothing anyway.

The sensors embedded in Tony's armor spat out strings of data on the HUD as he approached. The ground shook underneath Galactus's feet. Buildings started to crumble. In the distance, the George Washington Bridge was creaking in protest.

And Tony... Tony could finally see it. He finally got his answers.

He supposed he should have known this would happen. Well, at least he had his answer for why in the world he could suddenly control anti-matter forces.

Taking a deep breath, Tony activated the comms once again. "So... Guys, I have some bad news and some good news. Galactus is literally draining life out of the planet. He emanates anti-matter forces that will eventually lead to the destabilization of Earth's core and the implosion of the planet."

"Where's the good news then?" Bruce asked shakily.

"I... I may have a solution. But I have no idea if it's going to work or not. And well... It may involve me going head to toe with this thing."

Bucky let out a string of Russian curses. "Tony... Tony, no. Don't do anything stupid. Come on."

"I have to. You know I do. There's nothing you can do to touch him. Literally. Even Bruce... You'd all get disintegrated if you even try."

"And you'd have a better chance?" Steve asked in disbelief.

Tony didn't address that. He didn't have time to explain the whole theory to Cap. Besides, Bucky didn't let him speak anyway. "Tony... No."

Bucky's voice was flat, almost emotionless. He sounded like the Winter Soldier all over again, the denial stated like a mission report. Tony ached for him. In the months he had spent with Bucky, he had learned one thing about the man. The Winter Soldier had been born as a defense mechanism—quite similar to Tony's "genius-billionaire-playboy-philantropist" mask. While it was awful, the Winter Soldier had kept what was left of James Buchanan Barnes safe, preventing Hydra from wiping Steve's best friend completely from existence. He was always there, always by their side in battles. Unfortunately, in this, even the fiercest assassin could not help Tony.

"I'm sorry," he replied. "I have to do this."

Without another word, he shut down the comms. He just looked at the creature in front of him and knew beyond any shadow of a doubt, with the same certainty and instinctive knowledge he'd always had of robotics, that it truly was the only way. If they stood against Galactus, the Avengers would be wiped away from existence, just the Super-Skrulls Tony had killed. Most of them were here today—and those who weren't, like Rhodey, were probably be on their way. Not one of them would be able to survive it.

The Avengers. Steve. Natasha. Sam. Scott. Hope. Vision. Wanda. Clint. Rhodey. Bruce. T'Challa and Peter—their two part-timers. And Bucky. God help him, Bucky. He couldn't let anything happen to them. And if he didn't interfere now, they would just be the first to die.

He had a chance. It was a 50/50 shot. He would either react very badly to being hit by Galactus—as he had during the episode with the Skrull invasion—or he would be immune to it. There was no way of knowing until he tried.

Either way, Tony doubted he would get out of this one unscathed. "Fri... Once this is over, tell Pepper I'm sorry for dumping everything on her. And make sure you take care of the Avengers. Especially Bucky. He's... He's gonna need help, I think."

He didn't want to flatter himself that he and Bucky had anything beyond a tentative friends with benefits relationship, but he thought that maybe, Bucky cared for him, if only a little. Otherwise, the stupid cyborg would have never gotten in the way during the Super-Skrull battle, or come to see him in the hospital wing later.

So yeah, maybe Tony had entertained a teeny-tiny hope that once he could ascertain that he wouldn't vaporize Bucky if he lost control of his new ability, he could maybe perhaps try to poke Robocop into something more. Clearly, that wasn't going to happen.

Oh, well. Some things just weren't meant to be, he supposed. Really, he should have known better than to consider it.

"I understand, Boss," FRIDAY replied sedately. It was reminiscent of JARVIS's soft and understanding "Sir, shall I try Miss Potts?", an eternity ago, when he had flown the nuclear missile into the portal over Stark Tower. This time, though, he doubted he'd miraculously find a way to escape at the last moment.

This time, there was no portal to contain the force that was about to destroy Earth. The only thing they had was... Tony. If he could do it—without blowing up half of Midtown Manhattan. No fucking pressure.

Of course, it was at that exact moment that Tony caught sight of the worst thing that could have possibly happened at such a time—or rather, the worst person who could have made an appearance. Just as Tony approached Galactus's hulking form, FRIDAY's sensors zeroed in on a distinctive red and blue figure, clinging to a nearby skyscrapper.

Without a single moment of hesitation, Tony flew toward Peter. "Spidey? What the hell, are you doing here, underoos?"

"I came to help," the brat said, as enthusiastic as ever. And he probably had, damn him. He'd probably been monitoring the situation ever since the alert had first come in and preventing people from killing one another while trying to get away. Damn it all to hell.

"Get out of here," he said. "This is no place for children."

He knew it was the completely wrong thing to say even as he said it. Peter was stubborn, and a hero in his own right. Of course he had come. And at any other time, Tony would have never shouted at him like that. He did his best to never lose his temper with Peter— _don't be Howard, don't be Howard_ always a litany in his mind—and it usually worked. But he was terrified—because for all of Peter's superstrength and numerous abilities, he was simply no match for a cosmic force.

Peter shot him a hurt look—and Tony would have felt grieved at it had Galactus not chosen that exact moment to turn glowing eyes toward them. A beam of power emerged from his fingertips, and headed directly their way. Spidey sensed it and jumped out of the way, but he didn't anticipate the exact scope and width of the beam. Tony didn't hesitate for a single moment. He jumped in front of Peter, taking the blow himself.

Tony expected it to hurt, and it did, God, it did. Every nerve ending in his body flared to life. At some level, he wondered if this was what Bruce had meant once, when he had described the Hulk—being exposed, to the core, like a nerve.

The armor vanished, leaving him defenseless, and he was shaking and screaming and writhing. And then, something inside him seemed to... switch on, and the pain vanished. Tony opened his eyes—when had he even closed them?—and stared at his hands. They were glowing with a dark red light, and his veins look black against his almost translucent skin.

Well, that was one way to prove a theory.

Whatever. He wasn't dead, and it looked like he'd won the Russian roulette with the effects of the anti-matter of him.

Fixing his eyes on Galactus, he grinned through bloodied teeth. "Is that all you've got, big man? I've been hit harder by super-soldiers."

For the first time, there was something like an expression on Galactus's face. Huh. Had he actually made an impression so quickly? Well, there was only one way to find out.

Galactus shot at him again. This time, when the ray hit, Tony held on and pulled. His world turned into darkness and blood, and his consciousness melted into a silent, desperate scream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now... After all this, did y'all figure out what happened to Tony?


	8. Galactus Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a longish chapter today... For the notes, I just want to thank everybody who left comments and kudos (500 kudos hit, thank you!). You made good guesses on what happened to Tony - I'm curious of what you make on where I took it.

After what Bucky had experienced since he'd enlisted in the army, one would have thought that he would have been ready for anything. Nothing—not Zola, or the fall, or the Red Room, or all those years spent as a machine—prepared him for the sight of Tony going against the titan-like cosmic monster.

He tried to dissuade Tony, but he could tell Tony had already made up his mind. That didn't mean it didn't hurt any less. And when the beam hit Tony and Tony screamed, something inside Bucky snapped, and the only thing he knew was that he had a mission—to find Tony and keep him safe.

Of course, that was easier said than done, given that they were still a good distance away from the sight of the battle. They couldn't even actually hear Tony screaming—they could only see him. Bucky wanted to tear the hatch of the quinjet open and run out, but that wouldn't help him at all, so he vibrated with helplessness and uncertainty, needing more input, needing to get closer.

And then, Tony stopped screaming. Bucky blinked and realized that at one point, he'd left his seat and was behind Barton's piloting chair. He didn't remember getting up. The seatbelt was in pieces and the metal he was holding onto—the back of Barton's seat—dented under his fingertips. Everyone was staring at him, but he ignored it. He pointed at the blob of red visible in the distance—the red haze that surrounded a floating Tony. "What is that? What is happening?"

Several of the Avengers gave him blank looks. He only realized why when Natalia shot him her "you're talking in Russian again" look. "I've seen it before," she said. "It was... In SHIELD reports, after the Greenwich Incident. SHIELD only arrived on site for clean-up, but there were video feeds of what happened, Thor going against a hostile using a powerful magical force later identified as the Aether."

"I remember," Banner whispered, sounding like he was seconds away from Hulking out. "The Aether possessed Jane Foster."

"It looks like she's not the only one it possessed," Lang pointed out—a completely useless remark, since everyone could see it.

Hope Pym scowled. "But I thought the Gauntlet was back in Asgard. How is this possible?"

Bucky knew how. In hindsight, it made sense, and he didn't know how he had missed it. The Aether had always been different from the other Infinity Stones, and when Tony had touched the gauntlet that day, it had been glowing subtly red. He hadn't deemed it suspicious—it had been a magical artifact—but maybe it should have occurred to at least one of them that a stone that was known for its normally liquid state was bound to... leak.

He had known something was wrong, of course, but he had kept his mouth shut about it just like he'd promised Tony. He doubted it would have made much of a difference in the end, but he still felt nauseated at the idea that some sort of parasite had been consuming Tony from the inside and he hadn't done anything about it.

Whatever the case, it looked like the Aether was protecting Tony. He'd have thought it was a good thing... except he was pretty sure the Aether was not meant to be contained by mortal bodies.

"How did Thor stop it that time?" he asked.

"It was a combination of factors," Banner replied. "Jane used the fact that the Convergence made the Earth's gravitational field fluctuate. And then... Well, the guy who was actually wielding it... died. But well... Back then, it wasn't like this."

"Among other things, the Aether is said to be able to turn matter into dark matter," the Vision said. "However, the records we are receiving suggest something else entirely, something far more destructive."

"Anti-matter," Lang offered. It wasn't news—it was pretty much what Tony had said earlier, and it didn't much help Bucky at all.

"The Aether was always very similar to a biological agent," the Wasp mused. "It could have mutated in response to events during the Thanos invasion."

"It could have been a million different things," Natalia said. "Even Thor admitted that no one except the Dark Elves truly knew the limits of what the Aether could do."

Bucky honestly didn't have the time for technical discussions on the nature of the universe. "How do we fix it?" he asked. "How do we get rid of it?"

"No clue," Banner offered. "Loki might know. Apparently, he's the one who contained it last time. But, well..."

Obviously, the Asgardians weren't here right now, and they didn't have to wait for their integalactic friends to bail them out. Personally, Bucky felt that if they couldn't possibly have missed Galactus's approach. If they hadn't come until now, they likely wouldn't come at all. Somehow, Bucky suspected things would only get worse from here.

As if to confirm his guess, Barton let out a startled, inquiring noise. "Is it just me or is Galactus becoming less... galactic?"

A sudden feeling of dread swelled inside Bucky—or rather, became more preeminent. Barton was right. Galactus was decreasing in size, and the red surrounding Tony had become more intense. "Land. Land the quinjet. Now."

Barton didn't argue with him. Bucky didn't even know if he'd managed to speak in English or not, but he got the message across, because the archer landed the jet. As soon as the hatch was open, Bucky sped out into the streets.

He heard Steve cry out his name, but he ignored it. He had to get closer. He had to get to Tony.

Tony had somehow known that he would be immune to the effects of Galactus's powers. He was clearly drawing Galactus's... energy—or whatever it was that made cosmic beings function—into himself using the Aether. Bucky was no scientist, but he did know one thing. If Tony continued doing this, he would kill himself in the process.

He wasn't very far from the site of the disturbance. Well, he was—by human standards, but he wasn't human, and he ran faster than he'd run even when he'd been chased by a certain king intent on punishing him for an assassination he hadn't actually done. The closer he got, the thicker the air became. Most, if not all the civilians seemed to have evacuated the area as soon as they had noticed the huge alien invader headed their way, but Bucky knew better than to believe there weren't any stragglers left behind. There always were. It had been a lesson drilled into his skull—quite literally. There was always someone who was forgotten, wounded or unable to move for whatever reason. The Winter Soldier was to check and make sure every contingency was taken care of and no witnesses remained.

Bucky shook his head and focused on the here and now. It only half-worked—he was on the edge and when Spider-Man landed next to him, he narrowly avoided punching the kid in the face. He'd have felt worse about it if the kid hadn't been just as strong as him—or better said, stronger.

At that moment, it really didn't seem that way. Spider-Man was staring at the reddish skies like they were holding the answers to the universe. "Mr. Stark... He got in the way of a ray that would have hit me."

Although Spider-Man hadn't removed his mask, Bucky could tell the kid was on the verge of tears. Sometimes, Bucky forgot just how young Peter Parker was. Younger than he himself had been when he'd left for the war, not even a man yet. Tony wanted to protect him so desperately. Half the time, when Bucky was in the workshop, Tony worked on something for their resident spiderling.

Tony wasn't here right now, and Bucky was a poor replacement, but he thought about what Tony would have said in such a situation and actually managed to reply. "It's not your fault, kid. This was always the plan. Now... Make sure you stay out of the way of the beams. And for fuck's sake, remember your communicator when you leave the mansion next time."

It was inadequate at best, and Bucky hated how bad he was at the talking thing these days. Still, it worked. Peter took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, okay."

Above them, the pulse of energy grew brighter, thicker. A remnant trickled down from Tony and hit the street beneath them, completely vaporizing a car.

"Oh," Peter said, now sounding a little dazed. "Anti-matter energy?"

Bucky didn't reply again. The kid was a genius in his own right, and he'd probably figure it out soon enough on his own. For his part, he had other priorities right now. He had to figure out some way to stop the energy transfer before Tony blew himself up.

His rifle was in his hand in seconds, as much of an extension of him as the metal arm. He hadn't bothered to take the bulkier sniping equipment today, not when their target was so large a fucking civilian would have hit it. The Colt fully automatic would work fine.

Or, well... It would have worked if the bullets hadn't disintegrated the moment they came in contact with the red light.

Okay, then. New plan.

Bucky dumped the rifle and pointed his metal arm at the sphere of red. He wasn't as accustomed to using the repulsor blasts as Tony, but he had to admit they packed a punch, and he secretly thought it was really satisfying to use something so... Tony with the arm that branded him as the Winter Soldier.

On a more practical note, the repulsors technically worked on energy so hopefully they wouldn't encounter the same problem as the bullets.

The idea worked... in theory. In practice, while the repulsor energy did hit Galactus, it made no difference at all. The power source in Bucky's arm was limited—nowhere near the capacity of the arc reactor that fueled Tony's suits. Tony had actually considered adding something like that to the arm, before deciding it was far too risky until he did some elaborate testing and he was sure that the amount of damage the arm received on a regular basis didn't destabilize the reactor. The end result was that his approach didn't even distract Galactus—or Tony—from their fight.

"FRIDAY," he shouted into the communicators, "we need more suits here now."

"I have reinforcements incoming, Sergeant Barnes," Tony's AI reported. "Stand by."

As he spoke to the AI, the other Avengers finally made their appearance. The Hulk was the very first one who arrived. Bucky didn't even look at the green giant. "Brute force doesn't work," he said without preamble. "Keep your distance."

The angry roar of Banner's alter-ego should have intimidated him, but Bucky really could not have cared less. He looked at the other Avengers, now banding behind them. "Try energy projection."

Vision would be a fair bet, and perhaps Wasp. He wasn't sure about the Scarlet Witch. As reluctant as he was to point her in any direction that involved Tony, her powers would probably be able to break through since they came from another Infinity Stone.

Too bad that as soon as he finished the phrase, there was another pulse of power from Galactus and Tony. Maximoff dropped to her knees and screamed. "It hurts. It hurts. Help me. Please. Help me."

Vision tried to reach out to her, but her magic shoved him back. "Help me," she repeated. "Please... JARVIS... Oh, God... Jay... Help me. Anyone, please... It's so dark..."

Bucky almost collapsed himself as the weight of what he heard processed. That... That wasn't the Scarlet Witch speaking. It was Tony. The AI JARVIS had been before Bucky's time with the Avengers, and Tony didn't talk about him, but Steve had mentioned his involvement in the Ultron incident. More importantly, ever since he'd started hanging around the workshop, DUM-E kept trying to pin a "JARVIS is my co-pilot" bumper sticker on his arm. He had no idea if Tony had noticed—he didn't think so, because FRIDAY usually intervened before the bot got his way—but he had guessed from all this that JARVIS might have been a little more important to Tony than he'd been told.

He wasn't the only one to have this epiphany. Steve, Natalia and Barton gave Maximoff a horrified look. "I can't..." Maximoff said again. "No, no, no, no... I can't... Please, no..."

Maximoff screamed so loudly a car next to them exploded. The Hulk leaped forward, obviously wanting to reach out to Tony as much as Bucky did.

As expected, the red substance caught the green giant mid-leap, and promptly swept him aside like he was nothing more but a bothersome fly. The Hulk was propelled back several hundred feet, crashing through three buildings as he went.

Natalia's breath caught. It was as much as an expression of dismay as the Black Widow would allow herself. Or perhaps she hoped the Hulk would reappear, shake off the blow like he always did most everything.

He didn't. Nothing moved at all in the building where Banner had landed.

"Crap," Barton said eloquently.

"Bruce..." Maximoff—or rather, Tony—whispered. "I'm sorry... So sorry... I can't... Please... Somebody help me."

The red around Tony curled into bright waves, some licking over the tarmac like odd tentacles, others zeroing in on Galactus, the tips as sharp as Bucky's combat knife. Galactus staggered under the weight of Tony's assault.

Over a dozen Iron Man suits controlled by FRIDAY flew in, their repulsors converging upon the alien. On cue, Vision launched himself in the air, a bright red beam bursting out of his forehead. Wasp shot forward, streams of bio-energy shooting from her fingertips.

Natalia's Widow Bites worked madly and Hawkeye was shooting his trick arrows. Bucky was not sure if they were having any effect, but they wouldn't be Avengers if they didn't try.

Ant Man took a deep breath and turned into Giant Man, following his girlfriend. Clearly, he hoped that his sheer bulk would be able to overpower the Aether. Bucky was pretty sure it didn't work that way, but hell, what did he know? Pym's technology confused him even more than Iron Man's—and that was saying a lot.

That left Wilson and Steve, who didn't have any attacks except blunt force or bullets. Steve wasn't about to let that deter him, though. "Okay. We're on crowd check and evac. Sam, go check on Bruce and take Wanda back to the Quinjet. She's in no condition to help. I'll coordinate with FRIDAY to find any remaining civilians."

And he was off, clearly as aware as Bucky that there was always, always someone left behind.

For his part, Bucky continued shooting repulsor blasts at Galactus. Maybe it was working, maybe it wasn't. He had no idea. Galactus kept diminishing in size, and the exchange of energy didn't stop.

Finally, for the first time since he'd landed on Earth, Galactus let out a sound. It was a scream—so loud and agonizing that it swept over all of them like a sonic wave. Bucky actually had to take cover behind a wall and cover his ears because his enhanced senses weren't happy with him. If all the windows of the buildings around them hadn't already been shattered, the scream would have definitely done it.

And then, Galactus dramatically dropped in size, so much so that he almost looked like a real, regular human being. For a few seconds, both he and Tony remained suspended in mid-air—like they were frozen. It didn't last. Bucky blinked, and then, both the smaller Galactus and Tony were falling.

Bucky didn't even think. He was instantly on the move, his eyes fixed on Tony's still glowing figure. He caught Tony just before Tony could hit the ground, cradling him close. "Tony? Doll?"

He cupped Tony's cheek gently, hoping against all hope that their efforts had paid off. He should have known better.

Too late did he realize his mistake. Tony opened his eyes—but when he did so, his gaze wasn't the familiar chocolate Bucky was used to. His pupils were completely consumed by black.

A powerful force struck Bucky, and he was propelled back. He pivoted mid-air, caught himself in the metal arm and landed in a crouch. In front of him, Tony got up and faced him.

He was only wearing his flight-suit now, and it almost seemed to have fused with his body—only instead of black, it was a very dark red. What were they supposed to do now?

Oddly, the answer to the question came from... Galactus. Bucky hadn't been paying attention, but while he'd been focused on Tony, Wasp and Ant-Man had zeroed in on the now fallen man. He didn't fight them as they slapped the power-suppressing cuffs on him. Instead, he let out a gasp, almost like a sob, and said, "Your friend... drew the hunger... out of me. I'm not a danger to you anymore... But he is."

"How do we stop this then?" the Wasp asked. "Tell us." The rest of them converged around the group to listen.

"There is no way," Galactus replied. "This power is beyond you—beyond him—beyond reckoning. It stems from the very end and birth of your universe. It will consume him—it has already started. He is only a human—he will not last long. And when he is gone, the hunger will remain in his stead, and he will be its vessel, just as I was."

"He speaks the truth," Vision stated. "He was not always Galactus either."

"That's not an answer," Hawkeye pointed out. "What do we do?"

"You must eliminate him, before he becomes too strong for you to do so."

Steve was already shaking his head. "No. There has to be another way."

"There isn't," former-Galactus stated, his voice implacable, like a sentence. "Between my power, and what was already within him that allowed him to contain it to begin with, he will be the destruction of you all."

Bucky said nothing. He couldn't move. He was completely frozen, just... standing there, still looking at Tony. Tony was looking back at him, and the red flame around his body traveled all around them, burning off the tarmac and leaving nothing but devastation behind.

"If it's anti-matter, there might be a way for containment," Parker intervened.

Bucky thought about the equipment back at the mansion. He was pretty sure Tony had been working on something along that line. "He had a project ongoing... when we left. I don't know what it was, but it dealt with this. Would that help, FRIDAY?"

"The wristguards were never designed for this kind of power output," the AI replied. "They would have to be heavily adapted. With Mr. Parker's help, we might be able to do it."

"It's not just anti-matter, though... It's the Aether," Natalia pointed out. "Even the Asgardians had trouble with it. Do you really think you can do it? Come on, Steve. You can't afford to be this naïve, not again."

She was right, and Bucky hated her it, for being realistic now when every other time when Tony had told them to face the truth, she had refused to do so. In a sense, he'd always felt more comfortable with her, because they understood one another better—but that didn't change the fact that in that moment, he very much wished the Winter Soldier had made a different call when he'd shot that engineer in Iran.

That was when Coulson's team arrived. The apparently unkillable Coulson was holding the Destroyer gun. The rest of his people had Tesseract-based weaponry.

Apparently, SHIELD never learned.

"I don't think this is a good idea," Bucky said steadily in the comms.

"It's the only one we have," Coulson replied. "Alien technology has worked against aliens before."

"What's to say it won't make things worse?" Steve asked. He had a natural aversion to Tesseract weapons, one he had never surpassed even now.

"The Aether has been known to lash out if it feels threatened," the Vision pointed out.

"I think we're already past that point. We have our orders."

And so, Coulson's team moved in. Before Bucky could hope to protest further, the beam of the Destroyer Gun made contact with the vivid crimson around Tony, and all hell broke loose.

An explosion of concussive energy rushed over them like a wave. It swept toward the source of the blast like a scythe.

Phil Coulson didn't even have the chance to dodge, hide or scream. One moment he was there and the next, the spot he'd been standing in held nothing more but a pile of ash. Since the Aether didn't care much about aiming, several of Coulson's agents suffered a similar fate, although in a grizzly development, a few of them left hands or legs behind instead of being vaporized completely.

There was no more time left for doubt. Natalia retrieved a gun from a fallen agent and aimed it at Tony. She barely got two hits in, before the Aether turned against her. Steve leaped in front of her just before the Aether could strike, his shield in front of him. It vaporized like it wasn't even there, and both he and the Black Widow were sent flying several feet away.

The Wasp and Ant-Man vanished too, and for a few seconds, Bucky thought they had been killed like Coulson. They hadn't—but Bucky only figured that out when the Wasp appeared out of nowhere, pawing at the air and screaming.

Vision launched himself into the air, the solar jewel once again targeting the waves of power swirling around Tony. Bucky was not surprised when the reaction he received was similar to the one that happened after the Destroyer Gun. The crimson tentacles surrounded Vision and the solar gem exploded into a million pieces, the shards showering them like pieces of broken glass. The backlash from the explosion sent the android flying back. He didn't move again.

For his part, Bucky felt like he was going to be sick. He knew he should be doing something, but his mission parameters were a blur in his head. It was the helicarrier all over again, because he was supposed to go defend Tony—only Tony was... God, he didn't even know.

He ended up rushing to Steve's side—because god damn it if he was going to let the punk get himself killed. Steve was still breathing—not surprising, he was more stubborn than death itself. Natalia hadn't been so lucky. Despite Steve's efforts, she'd taken a bad blow. Bucky took one look at her—severe head trauma, broken ribs, collapsed lung, his training told him—and he knew he was in no way equipped to help her.

He still dragged her and the unconscious Steve out of the way, taking cover behind a fallen car, not that it would have helped him any if Tony decided to take out his anger against him. For the most part, Tony—or rather, the Aether, because there was no way in hell that this was actually Tony—seemed to be retaliating to attacks, and since Bucky hadn't done anything against him—err... it—he should be moderately safe until he could figure out a strategy.

As he watched, one of the SHIELD agents who'd come with Coulson stumbled into his line of sight. He was clearly terrified, trying to retreat. It would have been easier if one of his legs hadn't been cut of, and Bucky was getting really violent flashbacks from the train now.

Clearly, the Aether still considered the agent a threat, because the tentacles of red zeroed in on him. At the last moment, Spider-Man zoomed in, snatching the man from its grip. The problem was that in the process, the young hero drew the Aether's attention.

The webbing that had been holding him up snapped and Spider-Man landed on the tarmac in a crouch. The Aether converged upon him, ready to eliminate him from existence. Only... It paused. It was only for a split second, but Bucky saw it so very clearly. At the same time, he heard Maximoff's screams of "Run, run, run" escalate. Spider-Man leaped out of the way just as Tony lost control and the wave of power hit the spot where he'd been, vaporizing the tarmac. But Bucky had understood.

He remembered then that the blow against him hadn't been nearly as strong as the one against Banner. Was it because the Aether had deemed him less of a threat? Maybe, but there was clearly a little more to it than that. Either way, it was an advantage, an opening.

And Bucky hated himself then, hated that he saw the vulnerability and had every intention of using it. But the Scarlet Witch was still screaming, and the buildings were crashing down, the red consuming everything in its path. Most, if not all of the Iron Man suits were down. He had no idea where the other Avengers were.

Still no signs of Banner. Vision hadn't recovered his gem had been destroyed. If Hawkeye was alive, Bucky couldn't see him. Lang was dead, and so was Coulson—as were most of his people.

Tony wouldn't want this. He'd only ever wanted to protect.

It was only a matter of time until the air force was sent in. The last time there had been a threat of this magnitude, the WSC had ordered a nuclear missile attack on Manhattan. While the new council was no longer under Hydra's thumb, they would probably take hasty measurements to contain the damage. In all likelihood, they'd only been holding back because of Coulson, but now...

Like a man in a dream, Bucky got up. He dragged himself toward the sphere of red. It was difficult. He moved as if through molasses—but he moved, and he made progress. The whirlpool of red hindered him, but didn't completely keep him from his destination. His weaponry evaporated as he went, but he was allowed to pass.

When Tony was within view, Bucky called out to him. "Hey, doll. It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. Remember? I promised I'd keep you safe."

Tony's far too black eyes fixed on him. Bucky desperately wished for the red to shove him back again. It didn't.

The red parted, the air clearing slightly around him and Tony. Something inside Bucky wailed and withered and died. Tony was still in there, just like Bucky had known he was. He recognized Bucky, enough to trust him—to trust the Winter Soldier, the most lethal soldier the Red Room had ever produced to approach him.

"It's okay," Bucky said again as he walked up to Tony. "You're gonna be just fine. I know it hurts. I'm here now."

Tony didn't reply. Bucky didn't think he could.

In the distance, the Statue of Liberty exploded. The ground was cracking beneath their feet. Bucky thought about the countless bridges of New York, already unstable when Galactus had first showed up. He wondered how many of the bridges were still standing. He wondered how many had collapsed just a few seconds ago.

The glittering monolith that was Stark Tower started to shake, too close to the epicenter of the destruction to endure.

Somewhere in the background, Maximoff was wailing. Bucky had no idea how he could even still hear her. Wilson was supposed to have taken her to the quinjet. It hardly mattered, because a memory drifted in Bucky's mind.

_"Stark Tower is the epitome of clean energy. It's completely powered by an arc reactor that is entirely self-sufficient."_

_Bucky arched a brow at Tony's smug tone. "Isn't that dangerous? What would happen if the Tower was destroyed?"_

_Tony snorted and rolled his eyes. "Impossible. I built Stark Tower to endure."_

_"Indulge me."_

_Tony let out a low, exasperated breath. "Listen, Robocop. If there was ever anything strong enough to bring Stark Tower down, the arc reactor would be the least of our problems. But... To answer your questions, if the tower were destroyed, there is an 88% chance that the reactor would fissure, causing a massive explosion that would obliterate everything within ten miles of the epicenter."_

_"Uh..."_

_"Yeah... Why do you think I don't want to insert an arc reactor in your arm. Honesty, we were stupid-lucky in Siberia. It's a miracle Cap didn't blow us all up. I'm honestly not sure why he didn't. Maybe it was just because that shield breaks the laws of physics. But anyway, if that hadn't been the case, if the shield hadn't been vibranium or we'd been less lucky... Well... Let's just say it would have been bye-bye for all of us."_

Just like that, the topic had been dropped, but Bucky still remembered. He knew Tony remembered too—for all that the Aether had taken him over almost completely.

"I'm so sorry, doll," he whispered.

He pressed their mouths together and gripped Tony's neck. He broke the kiss, dared to look at Tony one last time, and in one single move of the metal arm, twisted.

Tony's neck snapped. His body went limp in Bucky's hold, slumping against his chest, lifeless. The pulsations of red around them died down. The objects that had been floating in the air came crashing down. Stark Tower stopped shaking and the pavement stopped cracking.

And Bucky... Bucky collapsed to his knees, still clinging to Tony. For the first time in his life, he ached for the chair. It would have hurt less.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... That happened. Oups? I did consider placing character death warnings - but I decided against it for reasons which will become apparent in the next chapter. And to be fair, I did say it was going to get worse before it got better.


	9. Mistress Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG I'm so sorry. This chapter took a while to write - I had intended to post it sooner so that I wouldn't leave you guys hanging in the evil cliffhanger for too long, but... Life got in the way. LOL.  
> As always, thank you for everyone who kudos-ed and commented. I hope I didn't traumatize it to battle.  
> Hope you like this chapter - which is the official +1, btw. Also note that I changed some of the tags, as per suggestions.

It was quiet after Tony died, so quiet. It was like Tony had taken all the life and music from the world. Bucky lay there, feeling... Well, he didn't even know what he was feeling. Numb? Cold? Dead? Not really. Nothing he could come up with would possibly describe it.

He'd been many things throughout his life—a son, a friend, a soldier, a lover, a machine. Right now... He felt like everything he was, everything he had been, was simply gone.

The sound of the Iron Man suit approaching snapped him out of his trance. Still holding Tony's cooling hand, Bucky looked up, just as one of the suits landed next to him. "FRIDAY?" he somehow managed to ask.

The Iron Man suit pointed its lasers at him. Bucky stared at the implacable mask of the suit. FRIDAY's rigid stance reminded him of that fateful day in Siberia, and yet... It was different. When Tony had worn it, Iron Man seemed so full of life. Now... It was just a machine. A beautiful machine, but only a shell. Like Bucky.

He didn't move. He just waited for FRIDAY to take him out. She was in her right. He had killed her creator after all, and her first priority—her primary mission—was to protect Tony Stark. Bucky understood that. He knew all about missions and how important it was for a machine to follow its programming. FRIDAY wasn't exactly a machine—sometimes, she seemed more human than Bucky had ever been in his Hydra and Red Room days—but that didn't change their current situation. So... he waited.

"Remove your arm from Boss and move away," FRIDAY said.

Huh? Why... Why would she...

Oh. She didn't want Tony's body to be caught in the cross-fire. Yeah, fair enough.

He hated separating himself from Tony, but... It couldn't be helped. He got up on shaky legs and moved away from the... from the body.

"Extend your arm," FRIDAY indicated. "Your metal arm."

The... arm? What?

"Sergeant Barnes," FRIDAY insisted. "Please extend your arm."

In the end, Bucky didn't care enough about himself to question her further. He just did as he was told. The lasers flashed and pain erupted over his body as his prosthetic was yet again separated from his body.

As much as he'd have liked to claim that he didn't care, it still hurt like a bitch. The prosthetic didn't have nerve endings per se, but it was connected to his brain—and when those connections were severed... Suffice to say, Bucky went down, convulsing, dazed.

Through some sort of haze, he heard Steve's footsteps approach—because of course, that was exactly the point when the punk would choose to wake up from his nap. "FRIDAY? What the hell? Why did you do that for?"

"Sensors indicate that the Aether infiltrated Sergeant Barnes's metal arm as it was the closest thing to a living organism that was making contact with Boss upon his death. Fortunately the vibranium slowed down its progress and its anti-matter properties allowed me to successfully remove it."

Bucky cracked his eyes open and looked past Steve at the now amputated arm. FRIDAY was right. Now that he was paying attention, he could tell the arm was glowing a very dim, but still threatening red.

Steve was already reaching for it. Bucky wasn't sure, but he highly suspected it wasn't just because Steve's sense of self-preservation was lacking. There was something about the Aether, about that crazy parasite, that lured people in.

He grabbed Steve's foot, just like he had all those years back, with Tony. Steve staggered and stopped. FRIDAY stepped in, removing the arm from Steve's reach. "Keep your distance. Sergeant Barnes remains uncontaminated, but should any of you touch the arm with your flesh, the Aether will enter you."

She stashed the arm within the suit—where Tony's body was supposed to be—and paused slightly. "Sergeant Barnes... Sensors indicate that you require medical attention."

She sounded... concerned? Regretful? Despite himself, Bucky couldn't suppress his confusion. "FRIDAY... Why?"

The reply didn't come from Tony's AI, but from Tony himself. Tony's voice sounded around them, echoing from the speakers in the Iron Man armor FRIDAY controlled. "Fri... Once this is over, tell Pepper I'm sorry for dumping everything on her. And make sure you take care of the Avengers. Especially Bucky. He's... He's gonna need help, I think."

The words were like a physical blow. Bucky had not thought he could hurt more, but clearly he'd been wrong, and FRIDAY was not beneath twisting the knife.

"These were Boss's last words to me. I am following his commands."

Tony's last words had been for him. The knowledge hurt more than the moment FRIDAY had amputated his arm.

Steve reached for him, as if to help him up, but Bucky ignored the offered hand. Why should he even get up? What was the point? After the way he'd betrayed Tony, he didn't deserve to live.

Things didn't get any better from there. While he'd been out for the count feeling sorry for himself, law enforcement had started to gather. They were all converging on Bucky, Tony and Steve.

And because Bucky's day wasn't already bad enough, Thaddeus Ross's voice echoed around them. "Iron Man, stand down. I repeat, stand down."

Was he kidding? It felt like he had to be kidding.

Then again, he probably wasn't. Since coming out of cryo again, Bucky had learned just how much of a piece of work Ross was. He'd been obsessed with the super-soldier project for years—which had eventually spiraled into his pursuit of the Hulk. With Banner gone, he'd turned his attention to the Avengers, and he'd wriggled his way into an authority position. His involvement in the Accords mess was a huge part why everything had gone so wrong.

Despite the fact that the Avengers had saved the world repeatedly by now, Ross was still one of those issues that just refused to go away. He was no longer Secretary of State, but had returned to serve in the army, and had ended up involved in the new project that was meant to protect Earth from aliens—SWORD.

SWORD hadn't been all that effective—but that didn't mean Ross wasn't still an issue. And normally, Bucky would have tried to keep his temper in check, but right now, if someone got up in his face, he wouldn't respond for his actions.

"Steve... Do something about this joker before I forget I don't have an arm and go strangle him with my flesh one."

He was in no condition of fighting anyone and his weapons were all gone—but he'd make a special fucking effort for Thaddeus fucking Ross, the asshole who never fucking went away.

"He wants Boss's body," FRIDAY said. The Iron Man suit was positioned in front of Tony's fallen form. "He's not going to get it."

Yes, he could imagine Ross wanted Tony's body. The guy was probably drooling over whatever genetic modifications the Aether had left behind in Tony.

Snarling, Bucky got up and faced the group. "That ain't happening," he said, baring his teeth madly. Maybe it was irrational—Tony was dead now, and his body was only a shell of the person he had been—but he couldn't let them desecrate what was left of him.

"I don't think that's your call to make, Soldier," Ross said with a smug little smirk. "Look around you. The devastation Tony Stark has just wrought proves yet again that..."

He trailed off when a gust of cold wind swirling around them, sending a chill down Bucky's spine. "And you'd know all about devastation wouldn't you, Thaddeus Ross. You amuse me. Do you even know how many people you've killed in your mad quest for power? I do."

And then, she was there, the hooded figure that Tony and Bucky had met during the fight with Thanos. Bucky thought he'd also caught a glimpse of her during the Super-Skrull thing, but he'd been a bit out of it, and he wasn't sure.

Either way, it didn't really matter—because now, she was obviously there, and everyone could see her.

Ross froze, not that Bucky could blame him. Mistress Death took a step forward, and a part of Bucky's mind started to scream "danger-danger-danger". It was that visceral feeling, the instinctive knowledge all human beings had, the desire for self-preservation.

It died a swift death—hah—when he looked at Tony's body again.

He wasn't afraid. Why should he be? He had nothing left to lose, after all.

Mistress Death walked toward him, her gait elegant and steady, as if she was walking on clouds. "Ah yes... I suppose you would think that, wouldn't you, James Buchanan Barnes."

Bucky just looked at her—and suddenly, the face underneath the cloak became visible. She was beautiful, with dark hair curling around sharp cheekbones, full lips and a fair skin. He blinked and the beautiful face turned into a skull. He didn't turn away.

Mistress Death laughed, and she was back to looking like a human being again. "It is a rare thing indeed, as of late, for a mortal to be able to face me. Yes... You will do nicely, I think."

Do what? He'd done quite enough. He'd just killed the man he loved... God, the man he loved... God, Tony...

"How sad... " Mistress Death tsked at him, having obviously heard his thoughts."You never told him, did you? That some days, he was the only reason you woke up. That he gave you hope that there was still good in you. That when you were with him, you could breathe. How does it feel like? To have ended his life, just like you did with his parents? To watch the light go out of his eyes, to extinguish it with your hands, choke it just like you did with the mother he loved?"

Every word was poison, burning him more than Zola's serum ever had. Spots danced in front of his eyes, and he didn't know if it was because of panic, grief or physical pain. Not the latter—most likely. He couldn't even bring himself to care about the arm he had lost. Good fucking riddance.

"Stop it!" Steve cried out in the background. Apparently, he couldn't move either, but he was trying to fight it, trying to fight whatever was keeping them all immobile. "Stop!"

But there was no stopping it, because there was nothing she was saying that Bucky wouldn't tell himself a million times. Mistress Death gave Steve an amused look, then focused on Bucky once again.

"He loved you too, you know," she continued. "He probably never even realized. He was never good at emotions, my merchant. But in his heart, he loved you."

Bucky knew. He had known it, because otherwise, he never would have gotten close enough to be able to hurt Tony to begin with.

"He saw you. He knew you were both the Winter Soldier and Bucky Barnes. In the end, it made no difference to him. He loved you regardless. He understood."

And wasn't it cruel that Tony had understood better than anyone else, better than Steve who always mentioned distant memories that to Bucky were washed out shadows of things from the lifetime of somebody else? That had given Bucky hope, just like Mistress Death had said.

"And how did you repay him?" Mistress Death asked. "With betrayal. How does it feel, to have taken his forgiveness and tossed it in his face? It was so easy, wasn't it... to break his neck. You didn't even have to think about it. It's just who you are."

True. All true. Except for one thing. It had not been easy. It had been harder than willingly going into cryo when Steve and his people had been on the run. He had hidden it from Steve, but everything inside him had been screaming when he'd looked at that tube. It might not have been like the capsule Hydra had held him in, but he'd known it would be the same. Feel the same.

Mistress Death leaned in closer, that small smile still on her face, the bones flashing underneath her fair skin. "Ah, yes. It felt like going to your death, didn't it? Being frozen... over and over and over again... Your breath, your heart, your lungs... everything stopping. Dying. How many times did they kill you? Do you even know?"

He didn't, but he would have gladly gone through it a million more times—if it meant not having to do what he'd done today. In the end, it didn't matter anymore. Everything was gone. He was done. He had tried to be Bucky Barnes, to fight his way back to the surface—for Steve, at least. But now, that sole hope he'd had was gone.

He was and would always be a murderer. By tonight, he would eat his own gun.

Mistress Death hummed lightly. "Hmmm... I think not. It's not your time yet." She eyed him from head to toe, and it eerily reminded him of Zola. "Such pain. Such grief. Do you know, James Buchanan Barnes, that you are the one who mourns him most? His friends will miss him. His creations worship him. But all of them were, in their own way, prepared for this. He has skirted death so many times. They knew it was coming. Not you. For you, he was alive—so alive, more real than anything else in the world."

Bucky stared at her, tasting blood in his mouth. He hated her then, because he wished that she would at least end it already instead of tearing him open like this. Yes, he knew all that—and he was the one who had ended it, all that genius, that vibrant mind, that generous heart, everything Tony Stark was and would ever be. So alive, always so alive, so defiant, braver and truer than anything Bucky could ever hope to have. The red of blood had consumed him now, just like it consumed everything in Bucky's life.

Mistress Death's eyes were pits of bottomless black, like galaxies of dead stars. "Do you know," she whispered, like a secret, "that death is peaceful? In death, you do not feel. Pain, grief, sorrow—it means that you are alive."

Alive. Bucky didn't feel alive. He felt like he was dying with every breath he took. He wanted it to be over already. Hadn't he killed enough people? He'd been a good servant for her, in a way. Couldn't he rest already?

Mistress Death laughed. Bucky closed his eyes. He wondered if it would hurt. It looked like he wouldn't need his gun, at least.

He heard Steve screaming, and a pang of regret coursed through him at the realization that he was making his friend watch his death again. But he was all out of strength.

One way or another, it would be over today.

"Will it? Will it end today, or are you strong enough to stand and start anew?"

Start... anew? How could he possibly... Do that?

"Well?"

Mistress Death took his hand. The fingers touching him felt bony and cold. He wondered if this was what Tony had felt when he had first started seeing her.

He felt something strange slither into his mind—and when he instinctively recoiled, it took hold of him completely, pulling him in, drawing him into memories he'd have preferred to never remember.

The first person he had killed had been young, younger than Bucky himself perhaps. He had still been Sergeant James Barnes, of the 107th. The strange thing about it was that nothing particular dramatic had marked the event. The guy had been a Nazi soldier, and it had been either him or Bucky. By the time that day had ended, he'd killed twelve more people.

He threw up that evening, after they went back to camp. If anyone saw him, they didn't say anything about it. They all knew the high cost of war.

It got easier after Azzano. He'd been watching Steve's back for years and years, and the fight distracted him from whatever Zola had left inside him, from the fact that he didn't quite feel human anymore.

Maybe it was just because every life he took was one Steve didn't have to take. Steve was just... Steve. He'd enlisted out of his sheer fucking nobility, his natural "I don't like bullies" mentality that wouldn't let him stay down even when he'd been a ninety pound asthmatic kid from Brooklyn.

He didn't remember their faces—the faces of the people he'd killed as James Barnes—mostly because he hadn't seen them, not every time. Did that make it better, or worse? He didn't know. But sometimes, when he closed his eyes, he still saw the blood splatter from the back of human skull, as he'd taken it in from behind the scope of his sniper rifle. He'd never hesitated, never doubted—a moment of hesitation could have meant the difference between life and death. But those things... He remembered.

The Asset... The Asset was different. The Asset received elaborate mission briefings on each of his targets. He was often asked to memorize their names, their jobs, the names of their families, every useful detail that would help him during the mission.

The wipes should have eliminated those pieces of information—but it had stayed with him, and every single face, every file, every detail—they came back.

Inconvenient men who looked a little too closely at the affairs of the Red Room.

Scientists who refused to cooperate.

Politicians who were a threat to either the Red Room's or Hydra's ideas of world order.

And worst of all... Often, their wives and children. No survivors. No witnesses.

Each of those deaths—every single one—flashed through Bucky's mind, staring from that very first Nazi soldier, to innocent people like Tony's mother. And finally... Finally, Tony himself. Over and over, Bucky heard the distinctive crack of bone as he broke Tony's neck, felt his lover slump against his chest, lifeless.

He didn't know how long it lasted, but when he snapped out of his trance, he was on his knees again, and every inch of him ached.

Mistress Death tugged on a lock of his hair and smiled at him. It was almost... motherly. "Such pain. Such remorse. Such blood on your hands. And yet, if you were faced with another target, you would kill them in a heartbeat—as long as they were a threat for the people you loved."

Bucky didn't bother with an answer. She already knew anyway, just like he knew why he needed to stop—why he couldn't do it anymore.

"I think you'll find that's not quite true," Mistress Death said.

There was a sound like a sickening crack of bone. Bucky turned, just in time to see Tony take a deep breath of air and his eyes shoot open. "What the hell.... What just happened?"

Bucky stared. He was dreaming. He had passed out because of the pain, and he was hallucinating or dreaming or whatever.

Tony's gaze zeroed on him and he stared back.

Mistress Death let out an exasperated breath. "Oh... Come on, already. I didn't bring him back to life so you two could keep pining for each other from the distance."

She actually rolled her eyes at them—and the display was strikingly human. Tony seemed to think the same. He blinked, looking from Bucky to Mistress Death, and back at Bucky. "Err... Right."

Bucky should have probably been worried about a cosmic force encouraging his relationship with Tony, but in that moment, when he heard Tony's voice again, he simply stopped caring. Tony was so very close, and his eyes were back to their warm chocolate. Impossibly, he didn't seem wary of Bucky. Did he even remember Bucky was the one who had killed him?

As if guessing Bucky's thoughts, Tony said, "Thanks. For stopping me. I know it was hard."

He tried to get up, but just the attempt made him tremble with effort. Bucky wasn't at his best either, so he shuffled to Tony's side. And then they were kissing again, Tony's mouth soft and warm and pliant underneath him. Bucky knew he should have pulled away, that he didn't truly deserve this, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

It didn't last. It couldn't last. Bucky was still in pain because of his amputated arm, and Tony was far too aware of everything that had happened to take things further. It was the worst possible place and the worst possible time. It still meant the world to Bucky.

When they broke the kiss, Tony took a deep breath, as if bracing himself. "So... Just how many people did I kill, do you think?"

"If you must know, 10203 people died in the past hour—although to be fair, not all of it is on you." Mistress Death sounded amused. "If only the bridges had been as resilient as Stark Tower. Alas, human architecture is as frail as their lives."

Tony flinched. Clearly, he hadn't expected someone to actually answer that question. Bucky wanted to tell Tony that none of it was his fault, that he hadn't been in control when the disaster had happened—but he knew that would work about as well as Steve's reassurances did for him.

It was almost a relief when Steve intervened. "Ma'am, I'd like to ask you to step away from Mr. Stark and Sergeant Barnes now."

He could move again, and the way he held himself told Bucky he was itching for the now lost shield. Just the fact that he'd used Tony and Bucky's official names spoke volumes of just how hostile Steve was feeling. Not that it made a difference in the end.

Mistress Death smiled. "Ever so polite, Captain Rogers. Don't tell me you are scared. We are old friends, you and I. You remember me, don't you?"

Steve was very pale, but stood his ground. "Yes, ma'am. I do. If you don't mind me saying, I had hoped to not see you for a while—and definitely not around my friends."

"You always were amusing. So defiant." Mistress Death leaned closer to Steve, her finger brushing over his jaw. "I always did like you. So stubborn. It's quite unfortunate. I had a bet going with the Watcher. I believed that by the end, you were the one who was meant to stand by my merchant's side. Imagine my disappointment when I was proven wrong."

Steve's gaze shot to Tony. He looked befuddled, but there was a spark of something there... a realization. Bucky's breath caught, because he could definitely see it, see Steve and Tony together. They were complete opposites, but they had always worked well together. And there had been such grief in Tony in Siberia, grief at the betrayal as much as his parents' loss... What would have happened had the whole thing with Bucky not gotten in the way?

"It doesn't matter anymore," Mistress Death said. "On your feet, _soldat_."

Bucky got up, his body responding to the command without him even having to think about it despite the pain. She crooked a finger at the Iron Man suit. Tony seemed to understand what she wanted. "Fri..." he said. "The arm."

The AI obediently produced Bucky's amputated arm. Bucky watched the entire scene, his head still buzzing with confusion, and now, on top of everything else, with jealousy.

Mistress Death picked up Bucky's metal arm. "Come here," she said.

At first, Bucky had no idea whom she was talking to. The order wasn't addressed to him—he could tell—and everyone else except Steve still appeared to be frozen.

As it turned out, there was someone else who had been very much involved in today's debacle. In the chaos, Bucky had completely forgotten about Galactus, and the small version of him who had told them all about what Tony would do if he wasn't stopped.

Galactus stepped forward, looking almost ominously calm. "We meet again, Mistress."

"Indeed, Galan," Mistress Death replied. "I believe you've had quite enough of being a herald for me, haven't you? But your work is not yet done."

Galactus—Galan?—didn't seem surprised at the comment. "We all do what we can, and what we must."

Mistress Death waved a hand, and the waves of red slithered out of the arm, floating midair like a malevolent cloud. The arm grew dark, almost as if it was being carbonized, but not quite.

The Aether went into Galactus, and the arm connected to Bucky.

It wasn't like what Mistress Death had done before, to call out his memories. Rather... It reminded him of cryo. There was always that time period, right after they sealed him in, when he was trapped in the cold, helpless, feeling his body shut down and die, one second at a time. This thing... Whatever this power was—was like that.

Then Tony grabbed hold of his flesh hand, and the sensation settled. He cracked his eyes open and flexed his fingers. The metal looked just as sleek as before. It seemed to work exactly the same—only now, it was completely black. Bucky suspected the difference was not just cosmetic.

His little "upgrade" proved to be less shocking than Galactus's.

Galactus opened his eyes, glowing once again—this time white and bright and so very luminous, reminding him of the way Tony's face looked like when he worked on his holograms. The white started to spread out from him, sliding over the ground, over everything that was surrounded them. It was like hitting a rewind button. Suddenly, the pavement began to reform, the cracks closing and vanishing like they'd never been. The fragments of glass littering the sidewalk became windows again. Buildings that had collapsed rose again and cars that had been consumed by the devastation reappeared where they had been.

Ant-Man popped up in mid-air and landed at Mistress Death's feet. "Whoa... That went..." He trailed off when he took in exactly what was going on around him. "Wait, what did I miss?"

"You should be more careful with your life, Scott Lang," Mistress Death told him. "The fact that you went sub-molecular once and got out doesn't automatically guarantee you can do so again. Who knows... Maybe next time, you will tear yourself to pieces."

Scott scuttled back so quickly he stumbled over his own feet. Bucky couldn't really blame him. He also couldn't much focus on Ant-Man, because all over the place, more of the people who had died were recovering. The shield landed at Steve's feet just as Coulson manifested out of thin air, pale, but otherwise unharmed.

"What..." Tony croaked out. "Why?"

"Where there is life, there has to be death," she said enigmatically. "And for death to be possible, there has to be life." She offered them one last sharp smile. "Do not fear. We will see each other again."

And just like that, she was gone. Tony and Bucky were left standing in the middle of a still reconstructing New York. "I don't know why, but I feel like that's not a good sign," Tony said.

Bucky agreed. He also couldn't stand the look of distress on Tony's face. And so, he wrapped his arm around Tony's shoulders, tried not to think about how ten minutes ago, he'd used it to break Tony's neck, and simply said, "We'll handle it."

It would have been more believable had Thaddeus Ross not decided to once again show his true colors.

"I don't know what game you're playing, Stark, but if you think this little freak show is going to get you and your little band out of what you did, you've got another think coming," he snapped, stalking toward them. "You're going to come with us, and tell us exactly who that... monstrous thing that just vanished was."

Bucky stared at the general in disbelief, wondering how the guy could be so stupid. By his side, Steve made a choked noise. Tony's eyes widened. "Yeah, that's probably not..."

Thaddeus Ross reached for his chest, already starting to turn an interesting shade of purple. For a few seconds, Bucky couls have sworn he saw Mistress Death standing next to the man, her face now a skull all over again. And then, she was gone, and Ross was face down on the ground, motionless.

"… a great plan," Tony finished slowly. "Oh, dear."

They stared at each other, and Tony's expression of dismay mirrored Bucky's own emotional state. "I suppose he was always bound to piss off someone too powerful for him to contain. It's really long overdue," Tony said slowly.

Bucky nodded. In fact, he would have probably rejoiced—had he not felt so very drained.

"It is," Steve agreed, much to Bucky's distress. "But I have a feeling that this isn't over—not over by far."

Bucky stared at his black arm and clenched and unclenched his fingers. Whatever had made Mistress Death back them up couldn't be good. But... On the other hand...

He looked at Tony, still breathing, still alive, still by his side. Maybe the reasons didn't really matter. Bucky had another chance. He might not deserve it—but Mistress Death had picked him for a reason. She had said that he needed to stand by Tony's side.

Bucky had no idea where today's events left his and Tony's relationship—but he did know one thing. He would not abandon Tony, not ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this actually happens in the comics. Galactus actually turns into a force for good and starts rebuilding plans. Honestly, I know it's far-fetched... But it's that kind of arc, I'm afraid. LOL.


	10. Epilogue: Clash of Worlds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heavens! I can't believe I've sat on this for a year. I kept saying that I'd wrap it up, but I procrastinated for ages.  
> Anyway, I'm not sure how happy I am with this chapter, which is part of the reason why it took me so long to finish. Do let me know what you think.  
> And of course, thank you to everyone who's commented and kudos-ed since last year! I love you guys!

Among the people who had been killed in the Galactus-Aether incident had been several Avengers. Other than Ant-Man, the list included Natasha and Sam Wilson.

Apparently, Wilson had never gotten as far as the quinjet when Cap had told him to work on evac. A piece of debris had fallen on top of him and crushed his skull. Natasha had succumbed to her internal injuries.

As Mistress Death had said, a lot of the dead had been due to the collapse of two of the greatest bridges of New York. Countless cars had been swallowed by the angry ocean. Other people had been crushed under the crumbling buildings—although thanks to Bucky's prompt intervention, Stark Tower had survived.

Of course, all that was a moot point, because of the classic act of deus ex machina Mistress Death had pulled. Tony still didn't know what game she was playing and why she had helped them, but it didn't really matter.

To the public, the only unfortunate casualty was General Thaddeus Ross, who had perished of an inexplicable heart attack. The bridges were back up. The buildings were once again glittering proudly in the sunlight. The world was safe once again.

Hell, even Coulson was back from the dead, the bastard—although that was one thing that no longer surprised Tony. He was beginning to think Mistress Death had turned Coulson into a running joke. She just seemed to have that kind of sense of humor.

As for Tony, he knew the numbers and the names and the damage. He suspected it would always haunt him, because how could it not? But that wasn't anything new to him. He had memorized all the names of those who had died after Ultron, so that he would never forget, so that he'd always remember his mistakes.

Galan—formerly known as Galactus—proved to be invaluable in explaining what exactly had happened. Apparently, he had been an inhabitant of a previous universe, and after their Big Bang, he had subsided into a sort of stasis, which had later led to him bonding to their universe and reemerging as Galactus. Leaving aside the fact that Galactus's sheer existence was terrifying, the story explained something astronomers and physicists had been wondering about for centuries.

The weirdness of the episode only increased when Thor and Loki showed up. The very first thing Thor did was to tearfully hug Tony. "You have done well, Man of Iron. We regret that we could not help, but it was the only way."

Tony awkwardly patted Thor's back. He had a pretty good idea why that was the case. "It's okay, big guy. I'm fine."

"You should be careful, Man of Iron," Loki commented once Tony managed to free himself from Thor's enthusiasm. "Mistress Death is most fickle with her chosen ones, as evidenced by Thanos's fate."

Tony thought about all the times he'd witnessed Thor stare out into the distance, mourning a brother he'd deemed dead. He was pretty sure there was more to that story than Loki's usual illusions. "Speaking from personal experience?"

Loki's smile was thin and dagger-sharp. "Perhaps."

Nothing more was said of it—and human authorities didn't really want to address the fact that there was an actual physical entity personifying Death. Since only a small group of people had seen her, the matter was buried, and the official story was that Iron Man had managed to contain a cosmic force within his own body so that Galactus wouldn't eat Earth and he had succeeded because of the effects of something that had happened during the Thanos invasion. They left the whole resurrection thing down to Galan, who was apparently making amends and planned to go around the universe and restore all the planets he'd consumed.

In the end, the fact that Tony had essentially gone on a rampage and nearly killed all of them was set aside with very little fanfare.

He expected things would not go nearly as smoothly with the Avengers. He was both right and wrong.

Wanda didn't say anything at all to him. In fact, she stopped speaking altogether. She hadn't actually died, but she'd been badly hurt that day, since her mind had been connected with Tony's when he'd died. Whatever she had seen or felt then was a mystery, but she locked herself in her room. One day, she just gathered her things and left, the only sign that she had ever been there a simple note.

"I realize now I've made some mistakes. I need to do some thinking, for Pietro's sake."

Sam was weirdly... pleased about the whole experience. He pulled Tony aside and confessed that, in that strange in between state, he had seen his good friend Riley. He'd never gotten closure after Riley's death, not really, but seeing Riley like that... "It's like... There was a weight on my heart and now it's gone," he confessed. "I know it's not exactly what you intended, but I'm grateful anyway."

Scott Lang seemed completely unaware that he'd been dead to begin with, which was perhaps for the best, and if Coulson or Natasha had had any kind of revelation, they weren't saying.

But it was Steve who was the biggest surprise of all. Two days after the incident, he sought Tony out in his workshop. "I owe you an apology, Tony," he said.

"You've already apologized, Cap," Tony said, fiddling with a glove of suit.

"That doesn't really count and you know it." Steve sighed. "Look. I won't say I regret everything I did, because quite frankly, I don't think I could say that and be completely honest about it. Protecting Bucky... It was always important to me, and it always will be. But I regret that I ever thought it was necessary, and I regret lying to you. I should have trusted you. I see that now."

Tony smiled bitterly. "And it only took me dying to get to that point."

"You dying has nothing to do with it," Steve replied. His voice held something distant, almost aloof. "Just... Seeing you with Bucky made me realize I had things all wrong, all this time. And..."

He trailed off and frowned, as if he couldn't quite make himself finish the phrase. It wasn't like Steve to be indecisive. Something strikingly akin to apprehension stirred in Tony's chest. He set the glove down and gave Steve his full attention. "Cap? What's wrong?"

Steve shook his head, as if physically trying to push back a thought. "Nothing. Listen... You and I... We started on the wrong foot. I did you a disservice, I think. I never quite managed to let go of... other things, other people I cared about. I know that now. And I know that you don't really owe me anything, but... I need you to make a promise."

Tony's disquiet increased even more. "Cap, what is this about?"

"Promise me that you'll take care of Bucky. Please."

Tony's eyes widened. "Cap... Steve..."

Steve's eyes were like chips of steel when they met Tony's own. "Promise me. Tony. Please. I need to know that. I let him fall once. I need to know he'll be safe."

Tony nodded dumbly. "He'll be safe."

It wasn't a promise he made for Steve's sake, not really. He had every intention of keeping Bucky safe anyway. That didn't mean this whole exchange wasn't unsettling. "Steve... What did she tell you? What did she show you?" He hadn't thought Mistress Death had paid too much attention to Steve, but clearly, he must have been mistaken.

"Don't ask me that," Steve croaked out. "I can't answer. Just... Keep your promise, and everything's going to be okay."

And just like that, Steve was gone.

Tony didn't make much progress with his work after that. He still stubbornly stayed in the shop, thinking about Steve's words.

Bucky eventually came to drag him out. Tony half-resented him for it, because at this point, Tony couldn't refuse his lover anything.

"Come on, doll," he said. "Come to bed."

His voice was soft and his gaze unflinching, but Tony could see what lay underneath. Bucky was the one who'd come out the worst out of the whole experience. Yes, Tony had died, but Bucky had been forced to kill him, and that kind of trauma didn't vanish overnight.

They didn't really talk about it, but Tony could always distinguish the shadows in Bucky's eyes. These days, they slept in the same bed—when Tony slept, at least—and Bucky would often wake up screaming in Russian, flailing and staring at nothing.

It was like a strange echo of Tony's time with Pepper, although fortunately, his Extremis guaranteed that he wasn't as breakable as she had been at the time so Bucky wouldn't actually be able to hurt him by accident.

The strange tension between them kept them from even having sex. It was very weird, since Tony felt emotionally closer to Bucky than he'd been to anyone in the past. But he also knew neither of them had truly surpassed the incident, and he couldn't rush it.

This wasn't something he could fix by building armors.

And so, left with no alternatives, he went to bed, fell asleep in Bucky's arms and let Bucky hold him later as his lover made sure he was actually alive.

It took two months for Bucky to allow himself to believe Tony wouldn't evaporate or stop breathing.

It took three months for the first incursion to hit.

Tony knew all about the multi-verse theory, of course. He'd heard Reed Richards talk about it countless of times. But he'd always seen it as a theory and nothing more, nothing he'd actually have to worry about.

He should have known better. Hell, they'd had a visit from an alien that had tried to eat the fucking planet. He shouldn't have been surprised when things turned even shittier.

The whole point of parallel universes was that they would never touch. Apparently, someone needed to teach universes basic geometry, because they hadn't gotten the memo.

The universes were colliding, and according to Reed, should this happen—should two universes come into contact—all reality would be destroyed.

Once again, the Asgardians came to the rescue. Thor and Loki traveled to the Avengers Mansion, looking uncharacteristically grim.

"My friends..." Thor said. "My brother has concluded that we should be able to prevent this disaster by using the Infinity Gauntlet."

"That's great news, Point Break," Tony told him. "Why do you look so down?"

"Nothing is without a price, Man of Iron," Loki said. His face could have been carved out of stone. "Didn't I tell you before? The time of the reckoning approaches, and Mistress Death is most fickle with her chosen ones."

Tony could say nothing to that. In fact, he could do nothing at all—nothing except watch as Loki put on the glove and focused. For safety, they had left New York and traveled to the New Avengers Facility... which was fortunate, because as the gems in the gauntlet started to glow, so did Loki.

Loki's skin began to turn blue. Small cracks appeared on the surface of his body, light emanating from underneath.

Loki's eyes met Thor's. "Brother..." he said. It was the last thing he managed to say, before the glow became too bright to take in directly—and Loki exploded.

It wasn't like something out of a horror movie. There was no blood or guts or gore—only a wave of energy that sent all the Avengers falling to the ground.

Thor was the one who got up first. He made a noise like he was mortally wounded and rushed forward—but it was too late. Loki was gone, and the only thing that was left where he had been was the still smoking gauntlet. It was even more disheartening than the gory version. At least, if there had been a body, Thor would've had something to burn.

Later, Tony was told that the immediate disaster had been averted. The incursion that had been threatening earth had been stopped. Loki had essentially used the Gauntlet to push the two colliding universes apart.

He had paid for it with his life.

In the aftermath, nobody knew what to say to Thor. Thor collected the gauntlet and left, barely speaking a word to the Avengers. To Tony he said, "My brother warned me this might come to pass. And he said that, should he be unable to contain the energy of the gauntlet, the task might eventually fall onto you."

The words didn't surprise Tony in the slightest. In his heart, he had known it was coming.

That night, he took Bucky's smooth black metal hand and pulled him into his bedroom. "Let's just... Not think for a while, okay?" he whispered.

Bucky nodded. "That sounds like a great idea, doll. But then, you've always been smart."

They didn't even make it to the bed. All the time they'd spent not having sex seemed like a waste, now that they knew that they were basically living on borrowed time. Bucky fell upon him like a starved man faced with a feast. He just ripped Tony's clothes off and fucked him against the door, and Tony embraced every single second of it, allowing the almost painful pleasure to clear his mind of all fear and doubt.

Later, as they lay together in bed, cuddling, Tony idly wondered what it said about them that they could only make their relationship work properly when the world was under the threat of being destroyed.

He never did get an answer to that question. Loki's last message was proven correct, and the first incursion was followed by a second.

Like the first time, Thor brought the Gauntlet. "I wish I could carry this burden for you my friends, but I was not chosen. I do not even know how to do it."

"It's all right, Point Break," Tony said. "Nobody expected you to do this."

Bucky and Tony reached for it at the same time. Steve got there first.

"Steve?" Bucky asked in confusion.

"It's fine, Buck. You're not the only one who's had a close encounter."

Tony stared at Steve, gobsmacked. "W-What?"

"You know... I'm pretty sure that, at some point during the experiment, my heart stopped," Steve said. "I don't actually remember much of what happened and there wasn't really any time to think about it then, what with Hydra and all, but... I do remember her. I think maybe... She may have come to me when I was in the ice too. If she chose to bring me back, it must be for a reason."

Tony had no idea how to even begin addressing all those revelations. "Cap, come on," he insisted, because no other words came to his lips. "Be reasonable."

And yes, he could see the irony in him insisting on reason, when he'd been so very reckless for the better part of his life. But Steve wasn't reasonable. He never had been, not when he'd stepped in a metal container and agreed to an experiment that could have easily turned him into a deformed mutant and had apparently killed him, not when he'd gone rushing into a base armed with nothing more than a prop, not when he'd adamantly refused the Accords the whole world had insisted on.

That hadn't changed now and it probably never would. Steve put on the glove. Thor pulled both Tony and Bucky back. Just like before, with Loki, Steve started to glow.

At the last moment, Bucky shoved Thor aside and made a grab for his friend. Bucky's black metal arm came into contact with the gauntlet.

Both Steve and Bucky screamed. Their skin started to blister. Bucky's arm started to crack, the black glowing ominously, oddly reminding Tony of a supernova.

The glow grew brighter and brighter, until neither Tony, nor any of the other Avengers present could see what was going on. Finally, an explosion threw them all back, and a beam of bright white sealed the incursion, just like Loki had done the first time.

It did not come without a price. When the light dimmed, Bucky staggered back. At one point, his arm had completely vanished, and he convulsed with aftershocks of pain.

Steve was even worse off. He seemed to have.... shrunk. Tony gaped when he realized what had happened.

The Infinity Gauntlet had drained Steve of the serum and returned him to his past self. He was now unconscious and on the verge of death.

To make matters worse, while the Infinity Gauntlet was still there, some of the gems had apparently scattered. Tony had no idea how that was even possible, and he despaired at the disaster this new development would undoubtedly spell out for them in the future.

The Avengers swept both Steve and Bucky into medical care. Bucky recovered within a day, but Steve was not so lucky. He had regressed so badly he'd fallen into an advanced form of SCID and would only be able to survive if kept in complete isolation from all external environment. He hadn't yet woken up from his coma, and the doctors were not sure if he ever would.

Bucky blamed himself. "I shouldn't have let Steve step in... If I hadn't..."

Thor shook his head. "This was always going to happen. A mortal cannot wield the Gauntlet like a one thousand year old Asgardian sorcerer. He probably would have never succeeded at all if not for James's involvement. Neither of you could have done it individually. Steven's sacrifice was his own choice, and we must honor it."

"That's true, Thor, except for one thing. He's not dead yet," Tony said stubbornly.

He and Steve might have had their differences, but he would not let Cap die just like that. He knew Howard had had the formula for the serum—and there was Extremis. He just needed to figure out the right solution, so that he wouldn't kill Steve by mistake while trying to save him.

Unfortunately, he didn't have time for such things, and a new incursion soon threatened their world. Steve and Bucky had bought them time, though, time enough for Loki to somehow manage to claw his way back to them.

Apparently, the God of Mischief had had a backup plan in case he was unable to contain the energy of the Gauntlet. He'd built a sort of... clone of himself, one that could contain his 'essence' should his original self be destroyed.

Unfortunately, Loki 2.0. was nowhere near the level of power of the first version. In fact, they didn't even look alike, with this new Loki seeming much younger. "A receptacle that would contain my full self was not possible without sacrificing the magic I needed to wield to gauntlet. I'll just have to grow into my old body all over again. Assuming, of course, I have enough time for it."

"I take it you have an idea on how to make sure you get that chance, don't you, Reindeer Games?"

Loki nodded. "Without the Gems... I'm afraid you must do it the old-fashioned way."

"The old-fashioned way?" Thor repeated in confusion. "What do you mean, brother?"

Tony didn't wait for Loki to provide an answer. He already knew.

My merchant, Mistress Death had called him. Of course. It made so much sense now, why she had picked him of all people.

There could be no death without life indeed, and how convenient that while trying to save reality, he would have to kill an entire world.

"If you do not, everything will die," she whispered in his mind. "There is no coming back from this, nothing to undo it."

Tony looked up at the sky. The clouds were already burning with the imminent promise of destruction.

If he did not do this, if he did not taint his hands with blood all over again, his whole world was going to die.

He did not have a gauntlet to put on, but he did have his genius, and he always had been good at building weapons.

At first, it didn't take much to convince T'Challa and Reed to help him. Technically, he could have done it on his own, but he didn't have the time or the resources. Reed was the guy with experience in parallel universes and Wakandan science helped speed things up tremendously.

By the end, Tony marveled at how easy it was to build a world-destroying weapon.

To make sure nobody would ever know what they had done, they'd built it in Wakanda. It was Tony's own design, though, and he was the one who would have to push the trigger.

As they gathered in front of the weapon, Tony could see the others hesitating. T'Challa seemed increasingly uncomfortable with the concept, and Reed wasn't handling it much better. Tony suspected that originally, they'd seen it as an interesting challenge, rather than an actual tool. Reed definitely had. He had no idea what T'Challa was thinking. Maybe he simply couldn't reconcile his honor as a warrior with the idea of genocide.

Tony could.

He met Bucky's eyes and took a deep breath. Bucky entwined his fingers with Tony's. With his free hand, Tony reached for the trigger of the weapon and pushed the button.

Somewhere in another universe, a world exploded. Mistress Death smiled and tipped her glass at the Watcher. "I chose my merchant well, didn't I?"

"I can't argue with that," he said, his eyes glowing his omniscience. "You do know it won't end here?"

"Oh, of course I know." Mistress Death laughed. "But there's only so much even I am willing to interfere. Should the mortals poke at my merchant... Well, that'll be their own mistake. I won't need to step in again, not for a while, at least."

"I wonder if that should concern me," the Watcher replied blandly.

She rolled her eyes. "As if you're ever concerned."

On Earth, Bucky Barnes was doing what he did best, taking care of Tony Stark. He showered Tony with affection and glowered fiercely at anyone who would have blamed Tony for doing the right thing. The situation would undoubtedly escalate at one point in the future, but the Winter Soldier would be up to the task.

Watching them, Mistress Death realized just how good of a match they were. Steve Rogers may not have been so eager to embrace the choice Tony had made.

"Well, it would appear you have indeed won our bet," she said to the Watcher. "Would you care for another?"

Despite himself, the Watcher looked intrigued. Mistress Death was not surprised. Even cosmic entities could get bored, and just watching something without being able to interfere was probably the most boring thing in existence. "On whom?" he asked.

"I will bet you Thor will finally see what's in front of his nose within the next year."

"That's a fool's bet. If he and your Jotun chosen don't fall into bed together within the next week, I will eat a planet. And if nothing else, Loptr knows seducing his sibling will help him grow back into his powers. No, too easy."

"Good point," Mistress Death agreed.

The Watcher hummed thoughtfully. "I think I'll focus on the bet on you and that crazy mortal of yours. Wade Wilson, yes?"

Mistress Death gaped. "You wouldn't..."

"Already have, I'm afraid. The Vishanti are already in on it, if you're interested."

Great. If the Vishanti were involved, there was no stopping it.

Oh, well. She supposed that she didn't mind it too much. Deadpool always was very amusing, and it wouldn't hurt to take a break from mass destruction and focus on a smaller scale of blood and gore.

The incursions would soon be over, and her merchant had the situation well in hand. There was still a lot for them to do in the future, but for the moment, she was satisfied.

Maybe, once the Winter Soldier finally got the courage to ask Iron Man to marry him, she would even go to their wedding. That would be amusing.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loki 2.0. is the Loki from Agent of Asgard. In the comics, Steve does lose the serum, although not to something like this. For reference, SCID is the disease called severe combined immunodeficiency. The incursion arc did actually happen in the comics. I took some liberties here, since I didn't want to get into how they actually worked, and at the end of the day, that wasn't the point of the chapter :)


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